


Into The Dark

by QueenlyCrimson



Series: Into The Dark [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Gay Relationship, Character Death, Death, Decapitation, Depression, Detectives, Emotional, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fuck You i can have as many tags as i want, Gay Male Character, Graphic Description, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, LGBTQ Themes, Lemon, Lesbian Character, M/M, Major Character Injury, Major Original Character(s), Mild Gore, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Neurodiversity, Nonbinary Character, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Other, Pokemon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Depression, Romance, Slow Burn, Superpowers, Trans Female Character, Useless Lesbians, What am I doing, cus fuck you, i dont like them, i will kill your emotions, leave me to my lotions, oh god oh heck, send help, your emotions are garbage
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-05
Updated: 2021-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:35:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 51,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23022571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QueenlyCrimson/pseuds/QueenlyCrimson
Summary: In the region of Nivalhiem, in the capital city of Zuheimer, a darkness lurks between alleyways and closed doors. A young woman works towards finding her own way in life, while trying to uncover mysteries of her past all while being tackled with her grueling fate.
Series: Into The Dark [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857526
Comments: 6
Kudos: 70





	1. The Interview

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! Come one! Come all!  
> Welcome to Into The Dark!  
> First things first, if you don't like super powers and all that, this might not be the story for you. Second, it doesn't follow any orthodox methods for Pokémon fanfiction. And I must warn you that this story contains gore and detailed death. Viewer discretion is heavily advised or something. Third, this takes place on a fan region. So if you absolutely cannot deal with that, this also probably isn't for you. Also, believe it or not, I do NOT own Pokémon. Nor do I claim to. 
> 
> This is just a narrative I wanted to bring to life.  
> Have fun.

Chapter 1: The Interview

  
  


“Your name is..” 

“Octavia Aldark, sir.” The young woman answered the interviewer, who was staring at the resume in front of him. Her eyes seemed to be stone cold, with a look of business about them. 

“You're from Morning Grove, that's a far out suburb of Zuheimer, correct? So what's a girl like you doing in this city?” He asked.

“I'm here for the internship opportunity at The Zuheimer Police Department. So that my resume will look good for college. That or I want to start a career in the field.” Her answer was flat, and seemed lifeless. He looked at her blue eyes like he was a critic, this internship opportunity was hard to get after all.

“How old are you now, Miss Octavia?” He inquired while flipping through her file. 

“18, sir. I was born in 2054, in Silva. But custody of me was transferred to my former foster parents, so I grew up in Morning Grove.”

“I see, you graduated from Morning Star Highschool, correct? Top of your class too..” he said while studying the papers. Octavia had no doubt in her mind she would get this internship opportunity on her track record. She was an athlete, as well as the valedictorian of her school. She would not lose.

“Hmmm.. I’ll introduce you to who will be your boss for this internship, Mr. Rexus. Of course I'll need you to sign a few things, but you seem to have a good chance on the..  _ test _ tomorrow… You may go now. Be here tomorrow morning at 7:30 AM.” He says. 

“Yes sir.”

She got up and began to walk out of the beige and boring office. 

As soon as she left that disgusting building she let out her Pokémon, Ace the Pawniard. This little guy was her starter Pokémon, whom had been caught in the wilds around Morning Grove. He had a soldier-like attitude, and followed Octavia’s every command. She cared deeply about the little buddy more than anyone could ever understand. 

“Hey there, Ace.” Octavia kneeled over, playfully getting his attention. To this he simply waved back in happiness. Every time he gave her a display of affection it melted her icy heart.

“Listen, buddy, we’re gonna need to go to the store to get me a new belt. My old one’s absolutely dying and I just got the internship I applied for, so I need to get a new one. Now that that has been said, I need you to make sure no bad guys will sneak up on us okay?” She lied. She honestly and truly just wanted to spend time with him. 

Ace happily obliged and played being look out for her as she walked through the Empire district of Zuheimer. He immediately started following her footsteps while looking around frantically and constantly. He was the exact embodiment of hyper-vigilance. And it was adorable. 

-.-

“This belt looks nice,” She pulled out a standard brown belt from the rack of belts. She fit it around her waist nicely. “How do I look?”

The pawniard simply jumped in amusement and waved his arms for her. He seemed to like it. God, he's adorable. 

“Then this is the one I'll get. Let's go pay for it, okay?” And the absolute unit saluted her. 

On their way over to the cashier and check out, they saw a group of girls fawning over clothes and whatnot. Octavia could never understand them, just going around wantonly buying clothes for the sake of buying them. Maybe that's why she never had any nice clothes for nice events. In her mind, all that she cared about was Ace and making money. Statistics. That's the good life. She thought, anyway.

She brought her soon-to-be belt and placed it onto the counter to be paid for. The cashier gave Octavia a fake, plastic-like smile. Octavia was sure it just came with the job, however.

“Will this be all for today, miss~?” The cashier asked in the retail voice. “Yes.” Octavia deadpanned. She may have seemed abrupt and rude with others, but that's because she did not like human beings. Humans kill and thieve anything they can get their filthy hands on. “Miss?” Octavia hadn't realized she had been completely ignoring the cashier. She probably asked if she wanted a bag or something. 

“No, I have my own bag-- I don't want one.” Octavia said.

And with that she strutted off and out of the store. Octavia looked like a woman who had  _ purpose _ . To anyone on the outside, looking in, she seemed to mean business. In reality, Octavia was just nervous due to not being used to this futuristic city.

Octavia, trying to take her mind off her anxieties, she stares upward. She sees buildings easily thousands of feet into the air. On her way home she just so happens to see the biggest tower in the city, as well as the biggest government building, Eclipse Tower.

The building is actually a couple thousand years old at this point, from when the country was still an empire. It was constantly renovated and redesigned, until it became the gargantuan facility it is now. While the Count of Zuheimer, Joseph Cambridge, may have his office up in the top floor of the capital of Nivalhiem, it is not where the royal family, the rulers of the country, actually reside. 

The Eclipse Tower was an intimidating sight. It felt like being in the presence of majesty. Octavia was mesmerized by the thing. 

Shaking herself back to reality, she decided she absolutely needed to get back home. She had a big day tomorrow and she needed to get what rest she could. After a good workout, obviously. 

~~~~

Octavia’s sweat beaded at her forehead and rolled down her bronze skin. She held a towel around her neck after that nice workout.

The blonde wore a black sports bra and some black shorts for her workout. In her outfit, or lack thereof, her muscles were clear and defined. She held the look of nimble and strong. Most would definitely be intimidated by her appearance. 

Octavia looked on the ground to see Ace, knocked out on the floor, dead tired. She imagined in her head a little K’O bell going off to him. 

Her muscles felt sore as all hell and decided to get some shut eye. But only after having a nice drink of apple juice. Nothing in the world could beat a nice swig of AJ after having an exhilarating workout session. 

And to the fridge she sprinted, leaving behind her metallic companion to the floor. She opened the fridge at mach speeds and pulled out an AJ juice box. She, at high speeds so incredibly fast, not even the naked eye could witness, removed the straw from the plastic. From there she swiftly and elegantly stabbed the straw into the hole on the top of the juice box. And then she sipped really hard. 

Dopamine rushed throughout her brain, it was like heaven had touched Earth and made everything feel whole once more. The incredible effects AJ had on her were simply divine. 

But she neglected her partner, Ace, who must have needed the AJ just as bad as she did. And immediately yoinked another juice box out of the fridge, and delivered it to the dying soldier of a little bro. 

She did all the stabbing of straws and held the juice box out to him, whilst sipping her own. She did this because everytime she just gave one to Ace, he just stabbed it and would spill everywhere. 

As much as Octavia liked AJ, she did not like sticky floors. 

Ace sat up from his overly dramatic coma and sipped the juice of life. He felt reimbursed and revived from the magic that filled the wondrous liquid. 

And so the pair sat down on the floor drinking apple juice and feeling very content. 

~~~

“Goodnight, Ace. You are relieved of your duties for the rest of the night.” Octavia commanded him while tucked under four entire layers of blanket. She felt very comfy indeed. 

Ace saluted his commander and decided to fall over on the floor, next to the heater. He couldn't cuddle his master because of his sharp edges, but Arceus knows that he loved to be comfy. 

Despite being a literal knife, Ace wanted to cuddle. But that would hurt his master. So he could not. Maybe one day he could get some real cuddles. 

Octavia thought about her internship that started tomorrow. It was a big day. She would finally start her career and get to finally punish those disgusting and vile humans. Or look good for college. Who knows?

And she softly and gently was swept away by the waves and ocean of dreams. 


	2. Friendly Competition

Chapter 2: Friendly Competition

An alarm screamed into Octavia’s ears. The rudely awoken woman instantly smacked the alarm on her phone silent. How dare that alarm she set wake her up! She then groggily opened her eyes to see the time. The sunlight crept into her room through the window just above her head. She reached her hand over to grab her cellular device.

5:30 AM the clock on her phone read. Octavia let out a pained groan, disliking the idea of having to get up. She sat up with much dismay and turned over to Ace, who was already cleaning himself off like the soldier he was. He had a hard time normally washing himself with knives for hands so instead he just stabbed a soap water drenched towel and rubbed it all over himself. This was so Octavia only needed to dry him off.

Octavia threw the blanket off of her, determined to get ready for today. She reached up in the air and stretched. Popping sounds resounded from her back. She enjoys the sensation of cracking knuckles and popping joints. She especially likes it when she freaks others out with it.

Octavia stood up and did another stretch, this time sideways on both sides, reaching down as far as she could. After stretching, she grabbed a towel and wiped off Ace.

She’s used to this routine of carefully drying off Ace. She has accidentally cut herself many times before on him so she’s used to being cautious.

After drying Ace off, Ace gives her a little chirp in satisfaction of being clean. She leans over and kisses the side of his head. In response he salutes, letting her know he is ready for the day.

Octavia then enters the bathroom next to her room and gets ready to take a shower.

~~~

After a quick 3 minute shower, she digs through her drawers for some appropriate clothes for this.

Then she realizes something. It hits her mentally like a truck. What should she wear? Gym wear? Professional business wear? It was mentioned that this was a test. She assumes this means a physical activity of some sort.

She turns to her little soldier while holding two outfits, a professional one and a gymnastic one.

He simply salutes. Damn. It was adorable but didn’t help at all. Maybe she should bring both?

An idea flashes through her mind. What if she were to wear the professional one over the gym clothes?

She put on both outfits and turned to Ace. He chirped at her. He was the light that helped her keep going.

~~~

Octavia showed up in the waiting room in a blouse and fancy dress jacket with a skirt that was too tight for her liking. She was the first there. Being early never failed her so far so why stop now?

She was tapping her lap as she was waiting for this to get started. She read her watch and it said 7:13.

Octavia was starting to get bored when people started filing into the waiting room. And what she saw concerned her deeply.

None of them were wearing fancy business clothes OR gym clothes! They were all wearing casual clothes! Jeans, T-shirts, jackets, hoodies.

She felt the shame weigh on her the more people that filed in fitting the exact description of casual wear. One after another came in and took a seat. She held her poker face like a trembling child held their blanket during a thunderstorm. Her exterior had held the same expression as that of a stone wall. But her interior was that of a keyboard smash.

Octavia told herself to just keep it cool and everything will turn out okay. She went to that abominable high school for years after all. She could do this, no sweat.

She looked down at her watch again. It was past 7:30. The instructor should've shown up by now.

Octavia's icy blue eyes turned to the entrance of the beige and boring room when a short man who wore a black leather jacket over his shoulder like a cape and a grey t-shirt underneath entered. The man had short brown hair and dark sullen eyes. His choice of legwear included dark black jeans with the ZHPD logo on them. He was a part of the Zuheimer Police Department, Octavia decided. Underneath the ZHPD logo was a dark gold shield insignia. He wore black steel toe combat boots to go with this outfit of his. Octavia deemed he was extremely edgy.

Octavia noticed some boys near her whispering. “Is that Captain Max of the Brass Squad? He's so short.” “Shut up! He’ll hear you!”

The little captain took a deep breath. Octavia could already hear the lecture from the comment about his height. He must have been 5’1”.

“My name is Maxens Piston. I am the captain of the Brass Squad of the ZHPD. The squad is infamous for having the most dangerous missions and the highest mortality rate out of any squad or branch in the ZHPD. I am here today because John Rexus, the person who was supposed to be here and assess all you little brats is taking a day off doing fuck knows what.” He announced with a little bit of bitterness at the end.

Octavia was relieved when he didn't just yell at them. She had a bit of a problem with people yelling at her.

Max continued “This quote unquote internship is really a competition held by the police department to see who holds the qualities of a leader within themselves and is willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top. Winning this competition grants you immediate and free entrance into the ZHPD if you wish, as well as credit towards college. It will look good on any job applications as well. This competition encourages youths to take up leadership roles in our times of need. Evil is upon us or some bullshit, criminal organizations have had their roots ingrained in this city for hundreds of years. Most notable of these is The Crimson Mafia. Fought those ugly candy apple bastards plenty of times. They've always seemed to have the upper hand on us, however. Ah, shit, got sidetracked. Anyway, the first test is a written test. Yayyy, fun. So now you bitches are going to take the dumbest test of your entire life.”

After he spoke that lengthy introduction speech, he barked at everyone to “get off their asses” and “take the damn test.”

Octavia and the rest of the group followed the small captain through the entrance to the waiting room and through the main lobby. The main lobby was a big room that had a glass wall just above the doors that lead inside. It had a reception desk just across from the doorway and on each side were stairways that lead to a second level. Behind the stairwells and reception desks were hallways and doorways.

The group walked up the stairwell on the right and through another boring hallway. Octavia walked rigidly and professionally. It went well with her outfit. In the hallway there were pictures of past captains and notable police officers. She noticed that underneath each picture were year dates of when they lived to when they died.

After walking through a hallway of dead officers, the group turned and entered a room with many tables and chairs. A testing room. Octavia was familiar with these.

The room was painted gray, and it had a table built into the floor up at the front. Max immediately jumped on top the table and took a seat.

“Everyone find a seat and get ready to take the first test! No cheating, I'll personally punish those that cheat.” Max threatened.

Octavia made her way into a random seat and mentally prepared herself for this “test”. She assumed that this test was some sort exam on what should be done in any given situation.

Max started passing out the tests and Octavia could feel the tension rising in herself. She could see the grimaces on the faces of each participant when they received the test. She liked this feeling however. The feeling of danger unknown intrigued her. No, it thrilled her.

And then it was her turn to receive the test. Max handed her the packet and on it read “Strategic Theory”. The first section included information theory. The questions were scenario questions about what should be done when learning crucial information to a case.

These seemed easy enough, report to the superior officer. Report to the superior officer. Easy. Report to the superior officer. Easy. But then, it asked a strange question.

“Your superior officers can't be reached. You have a gun. Your Pokémon can't help you for whatever reason. The perp is identified and confirmed. He's holding a hostage right in front of you. Gun to the hostage’s head. The hostage is young and has tons of life yet to live. The perp is yelling at you to put the gun down. Do you shoot the perp, and risk the life of the hostage? Or do you put down the gun?” The passage read.

This troubled Octavia. What was right? This wasn't anything that had strict rules. It was a fight for life. It was a moment that would be ingrained into everyone's minds. Everyone involved in the situation wouldn't forget this. Lives would end here.

But she knew what she had to do. She scribbled under the question.

“I would shoot the criminal.” She wrote firmly.

~~~

Octavia stretched her arms behind her head into the air. She had finished the test and it was generally easy minus the few morally gray questions. But it left her with a sense of dread. She was sure the other participants felt the same way. She looked around and realized she was the first one finished. She had no choice but to wait until everyone else was finished.

She had time to think now. What should she have for dinner? Maybe some ramen? That was Ace’s favorite and she thought she should treat herself for a good job on the test. Her mind drifted to Ace. She imagined his happy face from eating ramen. The dope couldn't eat it by himself though, she had to help him. He was notorious for stabbing things. She wouldn't dare let him stab the inside of his mouth with knife hands. She imagined him stabbing the inside of his mouth and his little sad face grimaced.

Octavia was not a fan of that idea. She generally disliked the idea of Ace getting hurt. Scratch that. She loathed the idea of him getting hurt. Ace was her only family. She never really had any others she considered family. And her former foster parents were--

“Time’s up! If you didn't finish, fuck you, I don't care. Give me your tests.” Max demanded. This was followed by a loud groan through the room. Octavia felt relieved she would be let go now.

“You may go home for today, I'm sure you're all tired after that abominable test. Get the fuck out.” Max’s temper seemed to have gotten worse after the few hours he had to just sit there.

One way or another, everyone hurriedly left in fear of being chewed out by Max. It was eerily silent whilst this happened as they all were worried they would piss off Max further.

Unlike all the other who rushed out of the room, Octavia took her time by politely standing up, pushing in her chair, and exiting the room. Max followed suit, locking the door behind them.

Once again, Octavia made her way through the hallway of deceased and honored officers. Except this time, she was only accompanied by Captain Max, who was following behind her.

“Fuck, I forgot to tell everyone to meet back in the lobby tomorrow morning at 7:30.” Max complained and then let out a massive groan.

She noticed a name on one of the memorials.

Octavia came to a halt to read it. “Lead Piston” the name underneath read. Something about him felt familiar. Like she knew him from somewhere but couldn't place her finger on where.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, huh?” Max interrogated.

“Lead Piston.. who was he to you..?” Octavia asked.

“Why should I tell a little brat like you that?” Max barked despite being shorter.

“I feel like I know him from somewhere.. but I can't place where.. it's not the first time I've felt like this over someone or something, however, I just feel some kind of connection.” The blonde replied.

The captain just stared at her with a confused look.

“What?”

“You must have lost your IQ points after that test.” Max says, pushing past her. Octavia is left still staring at the picture of Lead Piston. The years on his memorial read “2023-2053”.

He lived to only 30 years? What happened? Did some sort of accident claim his life? What could have caused such a premature death? Most importantly, why did this random man on the wall matter to her?

Octavia pondered on these things while striding down the hallway. Without an entire group of people to walk you down this hallway, it suddenly got very lonely. Maybe having pictures of dead people in a hallway everyone uses wasn't the best idea.

After she gets through the hallway, she overlooks the railing of the second floor and observes down in the lobby. On one of those waiting couches, she spots Max fully asleep, loudly snoring. ‘What a strange character’ she thinks to herself.

She looks to the receptionist who was a ginger and looked a bit older than Octavia. The receptionist’s name tag read “Xinnia”. Quite the exotic name, Octavia thought. She was a pretty girl with some freckles and glasses. Her hair was wavy. She was wearing professional business wear.

When Octavia had made her way down the stairs, she went up to the front desk and decided to ask a question that was plaguing her mind.

“Excuse me, I have a question.” Octavia pleaded.

“Yes, how may I help you?” Xinnia replied.

“Do you know where Mr. Rexus is? I was told that for the internship he was to be the instructor. Instead we have, uhhh, him.” Octavia said while looking back and gesturing to the oh-so-ever-graceful captain on the couch.

At first, the receptionist looked a bit nervous. “Uh, I'm sorry, miss, but I don't know the whereabouts of just one of our employees are.. have you asked Captain Max?”

“Yes, and he complained, saying that Rexus should have been here. He made it seem like he was called in last minute.” Octavia speculated.

“I mean, today was supposed to be his day off. Which must be so painful for him, considering his line of work.” Xinnia said, trying to get some girl talk going. Unfortunately for Xinnia, Octavia has no sense of girl talk, so she couldn't follow through.

“I see.” Octavia replied while holding her hand to her chin. Something bothered her about this entire scene. Something wasn't right. Was it just in her mind? Or was there something more?

“Miss?” Xinnia said, trying to get her attention from her staring into space.

“Oh, apologies. I got lost in thought for a second.” Octavia answered.

“Hey, what's your name?” Xinnia asked.

“Octavia, and your’s is Xinnia, correct?”

“Yeah.”

To Xinnia, Octavia looked very unique. Her skin was a dark tan, but her hair was blonde. Her eyes pierced through the air with an icy glow, it felt like. Not to mention how tall and muscular she was. Octavia was quite the beautiful woman to Xinnia.

“I must go, thank you for the information.” Octavia bowed and turned around to leave.

“Yeah.. sure.” Xinnia said at a loss for words.

~~~

Octavia passed by Eclipse Tower once more on her way home, but she was too in thought to take notice of its grand appearance. She was still thinking about Lead. Who was he? Why did she feel some sort of connection? Why did she feel sad looking at it? Why doesn't she know anything about her real parents? Why did it always gnaw at her? Whatever. It was pointless to ponder about it, Octavia decided.

She suddenly had an idea of what would make her feel better. Octavia reached to her belt, grabbed a pokeball and pointed it at the ground. A bright flash released her Pokémon, Ace.

Ace left the ball with a chirp and a wave to Octavia. He seemed very happy to be in the presence of his trainer. Octavia gave Ace a small smile. Ace realized that she was having one of those moments. Sometimes Octavia had these moments. She would look somber and sad, even if she was smiling.

Ace could recognize it from the look in her eyes. Whenever she got like this, it was his job to cheer her up. So he clapped his knife hand things together to get her attention. This worked as she stared at him curiously.

“Whatcha doing there bud?” She asked.

He took his knives and pointed them up against his face and tried to motion for her to smile. He closed his eyes to make it look he was smiling brightly. Octavia took a second before she realized what he was doing. He was smiling for her. And she broke for a second.

Tears welled up in her eyes but they didn't fall. He was the best pawniard to ever exist, Octavia decided. Nothing would ever change her mind. He was the best. Octavia’s smile grew to a genuine one. Ace was happy about that.

“Come on, let's get home..” Octavia said. Ace saluted and started following her. Octavia decided she needed to get better at taking her antidepressants.


	3. Broken Mirror

Chapter 3: Broken Mirror

The automatic sliding doors of Zuheimer’s police department opened as Octavia strode in. This time, she was wearing a casual outfit. A blue tank top, jeans, and gym shoes. She looks over to see Max sitting on the couch, who was waiting for participants to show up.

Max looked up and noticed Octavia. His eyes had heavy bags underneath them. “An early bird, huh?” He said with a deadpan look. Next to him was some a mug of steaming coffee. He was very clearly  _ not _ a morning person. 

“I guess so, sir.” Octavia replied.

“Sir, huh?” He took another sip of his coffee.

“What's wrong with it?”

“Nothing, just wasn't expecting to be respected.” Max told her frankly. “I don't often get respect from people that aren't directly under my command. And even then, they only respect me because I have the authority to kick their ass and keep ‘em alive.” He told her frankly. 

“You are my superior officer, aren't you?” Octavia said, sitting down across from him on a couch. 

“Just because someone is your superior doesn't mean you should respect them. I can think of plenty of corrupt and lazy asshole officers high up in the ranks.” He advised while waving his hand around. 

“I see…” Octavia replied to his little bit of advice.

Max sat up and looked Octavia straight on. “Did you know you can learn all you need to know about a person based on how they get their coffee?”

Octavia looked back at him, reconsidering her choices of actually listening to him. “..I beg your pardon?”

“Least it works for me, what's your name again?”

“Octavia.”

“Octavia, right. What kind of coffee do you drink?”

“I don't drink coffee, I prefer waking up naturally.”

“So do you dislike coffee?”

“I wouldn't say I dislike coffee so much as I don't drink it.”

“Then what the fuck kinda coffee you drink?”

“If I had to pick, I guess a little bit of cream and sugar.”

“Ah, so you don't like the bitter taste but don't want to put too much unhealthy shit in there.”

“I guess?”

“At this point I can tell your likes and dislikes. And what someone likes and dislikes makes that person. Remember that, newbie.”

“Alright.”

After a quick look around, Max and Octavia noticed no one was here minus the actual staff. Octavia looked down at her watch and saw that it was 7:32 at this point. They waited for a while longer and kept chatting. 

Suddenly it was 7:49, and no one was there. Not a single participant showed up except Octavia. Max spoke up. “Fuck, it's because I forgot to tell everyone to show up yesterday. Higher ups are gonna kill me for this. Fuck.” He said very nonchalantly.

Octavia marveled at his interesting personality, maybe it was due to his job that he was this way. In any case, he was deemed weirder than most people. 

Octavia and Max turned to see a man enter the station. He had black hair and wore a brown hoodie and blue jeans. His hood was up, too. He also had black combat boots on. Clearly, a fashionable person. 

The hooded man walked over to the receptionist, Xinnia, and started asking questions. Octavia could barely hear him. Neither could Max. 

Octavia, feeling like something wasn't right, tried to get a read on the unknown man. From what Octavia could see, Xinnia’s face seemed pretty normal. However, because the man’s hood was up, Octavia could not see his face. 

The security guards at the doorway seemed tense. They could feel it, too. One of the security guards started walking towards the man in question. 

“Excuse me sir, my name is officer Jones, could you please show me your ID?” The officer said. The unknown man turned around and reached into his pocket. Suddenly, Octavia felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over to see Max with a dead serious face. 

“We have to move, now.” He ordered.

Octavia knew what he was talking about somehow, so she stood up with him and started sneaking away from the scene. The blonde girl followed the captain up the stairs. She felt something was amiss. She looked over the railing to see the strange man still shuffling through his pocket.

“Can I see your ID, please?” The officer said firmly. He was still shuffling. The other officer at the doorway had a hand ready to draw a gun from his holster. He started pulling stuff out of his pockets. A bus card, keys, a phone charger, but no ID. 

“I said show me your ID!” 

Jones pulled out a taser gun and pointed it at him. His hands were trembling. The officer bit his lip, he was nervous. 

“Ah! Here it is!” The man pulled out his wallet, and with it, his ID card. The officers suddenly relaxed, the one by the door, putting his hand down, away from his gun. 

The officer looked at it carefully, and read it out loud. “Vicke, huh? Sorry for the trouble. Us police have been on edge as of recent with all the Crimson Mafia--” 

And just as soon as they relaxed and put their hands down, Vicke reached into his pocket, pulled out a Pokéball, and unleashed a titanic beast. The air ripped apart, and with a giant flash, a Steelix appeared in the middle of the room. The Steelix fell and crushed officer Jones, who was in front Vicke. Octavia and Max could hear the bones of the officer break as he was instantly killed from the Steelix’s weight. 

It took a second for everyone to process what just happened. Octavia just watched someone die. Her brain had to think for a second to understand that. Death. The Steelix that was as tall as the second floor she was on loomed over her. Death stood before her. She shook in terror. She could almost see herself on it's shiny, reflective skin. 

“Come on! Move!” Max yelled at her. But she couldn't move, she was frozen. With a roar that blew everyone's hair back, the Steelix slammed it’s head into where Octavia was standing. She would've met the same fate as the officer if Max hadn't tackled her to the side. Max accidentally let go of her halfway through the tackle and fell further than where she did. 

The floor where the Steelix struck collapsed into the first floor. And with it, fell Octavia. Octavia could feel her grasp on what was happening slip out of her hands. She suddenly felt her weight hit hard, cold floor. She was snapped back to reality. The girl immediately stood up.

The Steelix in front of her seemed dead set on killing her. It may have missed the first time but it decided it would not miss the second. It attempted to smash Octavia but she dodged off to the side and rolled. She started running and stopped behind a couch. 

She analyzed the situation. The officer at the door was firing on Steelix, doing no damage. Max was up on the balcony watching her. Xinnia was hiding underneath her desk. Vicke was nowhere to be seen. She couldn't rely on others, the blonde decided. 

Octavia looked over to the splat of blood on the floor where the officer was killed. She noticed the taser gun. It was undamaged. Steel was weak to electricity, so what if she were to taze the Steelix? 

She looked back up at the Steelix. She could see her reflection on it's skin. But it looked strange. It didn't follow her exact movements. And it felt like it was more than just a reflection. Octavia decided it must have been a side effect of all the adrenaline coursing through her body. 

The Steelix grew tired of the officer shooting at it and slammed it through the glass wall with its tail. The officer yelled as he flew into the street. Octavia could hear the crowd in the street screech in fear. The crowd screaming distracted the Steelix for a moment. 

She saw the opening and ran for the taser gun. The Steelix looked back to see her running and immediately swung its head down, trying to smash her with its clunky head. She dove out of the way and just barely managed to escape meeting a bloody fate. She could practically feel the metal snake’s breath with how close she was. 

Octavia grabbed the taser and turned to see the Steelix screaming at her with its mouth gaping. Fear was crawling up her spine. She aimed the taser up at the roaring Steelix and then she faltered. 

She could still see her entire reflection in the Steelix’s skin. But it was distorted in an impossible way. It looked lifelike, like it could leave the reflection at any moment. 

The blonde didn't care anymore. She fired the taser right at the Steelix’s mouth. It felt like slow motion to her. She could see the pins with the wires fly out of the gun and into the beast’s gaping maw. When the nails collided with the inside of the mouth, the electricity started flowing into the Steelix’s body. 

The Steelix was electrocuted and roared. It wailed around in its excruciating pain. Octavia felt exhausted. She wondered if it was over, finally. 

It was not. The Steelix, in a fit of rage, accidentally hit Octavia with its tail. She was knocked off her feet after the blow to her stomach. She was sent flying onto Xinnia’s desk. Octavia looked back up at the monster. She could still see her reflection on the Steelix. It was staring back at her. 

She finally understood. Steel is weak to fighting. She needed to hit it. 

But she was having a bit of trouble standing up, the pain in her lower torso felt like it was on fire. The Steelix was distracted, with the pain of the electricity still causing it to go berserk. The gargantuan creature was destroying the walls in anger. 

Now was her chance. She hobbled onto her feet, and started stumbling over to the Steelix. Her ears didn't catch the sound of Max telling her to stop. 

She broke into a run. She could still see the lifelike mirror of herself on the Steelix’s skin. This time it was smiling. It stood there. Unmoving. 

The Steelix turned around to see the exhausted Octavia, running towards itself. Octavia raised her fist. 

And she hit the Steelix. 

Her twin left the Steelix. It became a physical being of this world. She didn't care if she was hallucinating at this point. 

Octavia was near low on consciousness. But she needed to stop this Steelix. It would've caused even more havoc if it wasn't stopped right here. It would go outside and surge through the streets, destroying and killing everything in its path. 

But she couldn't move. As much as she wanted to, she couldn't move her body. However, her twin was able to move. She wanted her twin to hit the Steelix. She wanted it more than anything else. 

And with her desire, the twin obliged. The mirror copy of Octavia approached the Steelix and unleashed a flurry of punches on the beast. It's skin started to crack and break. The steel Pokémon screeched in pain as its body was being broken into pieces by a mere human. 

After a few seconds, the threat was eliminated. With that, Octavia fell over and lost consciousness. 

~~~

“Hey, you alright kid?” Was that Max? Octavia wasn't sure. She could hardly make out anything she was hearing. She felt like she was under water. 

Where was she? She did not know. The Steelix was dead, right? She beat it and saved everyone, right?

The only thing that replied to her questions was silence. She was not a fan of silence. Silence meant she was hiding.

Suddenly, she was hiding in her closet. She could hear  _ him _ looking around for her. Octavia was shivering in fear. She didn't like hiding. It made her feel weak. Feeling weak was the worst feeling in the world. The little blonde wanted nothing more than to get out of this hellhole. 

The heavy footsteps were getting closer.

“Octavia, get out here right now!”

She huddled further into the closet, scrunched up in a ball. 

“Young girl, you are in big trouble!” The voice yelled. It was followed with a bang on the wall. 

Octavia started silently crying. She hid her face into her knees. The footsteps were louder. They stomped all over her room. 

“It's okay.” A different voice said. Octavia looked up and saw herself in the closet. 

“It's okay now. You're strong now.” The voice continued.

Octavia reached out her hand to the copy of her. It reached back. 

Her hand mingled with her copy’s. The fingers were interwoven, and Octavia didn't feel as lonely. 

Octavia spoke up. “Thank you..”

And she woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to note that Octavia did in fact shoot the Steelix with the taser and thought it roared. She was merely running on adrenaline.


	4. Introduction To The Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the last of the pre-made chapters that im uploading today, the fifth chapter should be out soon so stay tuned ;3

Chapter 4: Intro

Octavia woke up to a gray ceiling. She immediately became wary of her surroundings and panicked to get a read on the situation. Her body groaned in excruciating pain when she sat up. She was in a hospital room.

She noticed that her wrist was hooked up to an IV drip right next to her. Octavia realized she must have been unconscious. How long had she been out?

“How did I..?” Octavia momentarily forgot how she ended up in this bed. Her head hurt like hell. 

Memories flooded back. The Steelix. She remembered that she lost consciousness after killing the Steelix. And  _ how _ she killed the metallic beast. She didn't forget it but an important question was on her mind. Was it real? And where was Ace?

Octavia looked over to her nightstand. She observed a note on it. The note read: “When you awaken, if there is no one in the room with you, please press the red button next to your bed. A nurse will arrive shortly.”

Octavia looked to the right side of her bed where there was a red button. She reached over to press the button. When pressed, she heard a little buzz noise, indicating to her that it worked. 

After that, she laid back down, exhausted from the fight. Octavia put her hand to her face, she felt cuts and scabs she didn't recognize. The girl had no memory of these injuries coming about, so she decided to wait until the nurse gets here to explain everything. 

After not even a minute of waiting, a woman dressed in a blue scrub walked into her room with a notepad in her hand. 

“How are you feeling?” She asked. 

“I'm tired.”

“You should be, after what happened.”

“What happened? And where's Ace?” 

“Your Pokémon is in our nursery, we hold all patients’ Pokémon there, unless they are too big or can't be there for other reasons. And as for the incident, I'm not the one with all the details on what happened. The one who will be informing you, Captain Maxens, is on his way here. He was notified as soon as you pushed that button.”

“Hmmm.”

The nurse stood up. She walked over to the doorway and just as she was about to leave, she spoke up.

“I’ll be gone for a while but I will be back soon to do your vitals, alright?” 

“Alright.”

And with that, Octavia was left to her own devices again. 

~~~

After 15-20 minutes of waiting, the familiar figure of Captain Max walked into the room. He still wore his signature ‘dead inside’ facial expression like a damn medal. He walked straight to the chair next to the bed and sat down. 

Octavia was certain she was about to be scolded into oblivion. Her guilt crawled up her back. She wouldn't meet her fate at the hands of a Steelix, but at the claws of Max.

“So, uh, nice job.”

“Huh?” Octavia was immediately confused.

“Nice job, I honestly thought you wouldn't make it. It's good to see that you did. And don't worry, the scolding will come by in about a sentence or so.”

“What?”

“That was reckless. Really reckless. You could have died. In fact, two people  _ did _ die. You and me watched that happen. So please, tell me, what in Arceus’ forsaken name were you thinking?”

“I, uh… I don't know.. there was a big monster and I felt like if I didn't do something more people would've died. How could I sit there and just let that happen?”

Max took a second to give her a suspicious look. He was wondering if that's how she actually felt about what she did. Even if those weren't her true intentions, what else would she have done? He deemed her a strange girl. 

Octavia was nervous he would yell at her. She had a thing about people yelling at her. It always made her slightly flinch. 

“Um, sir? What actually happened? The last thing I coherently remember is me shooting the Steelix with a taser.” Octavia spoke up.

“Oh, yeah. After that, you ran at it like a madman, and tried to punch it. What I  _ didn't  _ expect to happen, was for you to awaken your aura ability.. So basically, you used your ability to kill the Steelix.” 

“A.. what..?” Octavia was confused. 

Max shook his head and sighed. 

“Here, there are some other people here to see you, anyways. They want to recruit you, actually. You'll learn what an aura ability is from them.” Max stood up and walked to the doorway.

“You can see her now.” He said to the unknown individuals outside Octavia’s room. With that, two men walked in. One of them was short and with pink hair and a blue tracksuit. The other was tall, easily taller than Octavia, with short golden wavy hair done up into a side braid and a gray suit with red tie. 

The taller man stopped at the foot of her bed, while the pink haired one stood next to his colleague. The golden haired man spoke. “My name is Miles Arthur. We are both detectives of the SDA. Our purpose here is to heal and recruit you.”

Octavia lay in her bed, staring at them with skeptical eyes. She didn't know what to say. What was this SDA? And what were these strange abilities? Something about this man made Octavia uneasy.

“What's the SDA? And what are aura abilities? Why was I able to kill that Steelix? I would appreciate it if you told me things instead of just asking me to join some random organization.”

Max spoke up. “Listen, kid. If these guys weren't here for ya, I'd be on my hands and knees begging you to join the Brass Squad. You've got talent. And their organization specializes in the special talent  _ you _ have.”

“My special talent?”

“Your aura ability.” Miles interjected. 

Octavia looked at these guys like they were crazy. “My  _ aura ability _ ? Please! That aura shit is for Pokémon. Pokemon! Not humans!”

Miles sighed and Max just shook his head. They understood why she would be so disbelieving of this, but they didn't have the time for it. 

“Miyu, please, show her your aura ability.” Miles said to his partner. The pink haired man moved to her bedside. He leaned over in front of her. 

“Hello, my name is Miyu.” His voice was soft and sweet, much like a girl’s. He took his hands and felt Octavia’s right hand. He studied it ever so carefully, like he was looking at an art piece. What was he doing?

“It seems you have some fractured ribs, as well as some other internal injuries. You also have some other cuts all over your body. It would take quite a while for this to heal naturally, so I'm gonna speed it up and heal you right up! This will be the second time I'm healing you, so it should be no problem!” Miyu said cheerfully. 

“Heal.. me…? And wait, the second time?” Octavia asked in disbelief. She debated whether he was insane or not. 

“Yup! The first time was when I came onto the scene of you in the ER, you were quite the bloody mess! One of your ribs even punctured a lung! I made sure to heal just the amount that would keep you from dying. We can't exactly convince you to join us if we don't  _ show  _ you, can we?” He frankly replied with cheerful glee.

Octavia was losing it over these madmen. She gave him a look of pure disgust. Miyu simply closed his eyes and relaxed his face. There was a strange silence as she simply stared at him. There was a slight golden glow on Miyu’s pale hands. 

Octavia could feel her innards be reworked, she was in awe. She felt sharp pains sting then immediately subside. It felt like the greatest pleasure and pain at the same time. And then it was over. 

“There! You're all better! Now will you come join us?” Miyu pleaded. Octavia was still having trouble processing this. 

“Excuse me for a second, please. I need to make sure this is all real.” Octavia said.

“Take your time!” Miyu replied.

“Or don't, we  _ do  _ have a schedule we're on.” Miles stated coldly.

“So.. what  _ are _ aura abilities?” Octavia asked.

“Aura abilities are the manifestation of one’s strongest desires. A certain threshold of wanting something must be met in order to obtain an ability. Does anything come to mind that you might want?” Miles inquired.

Octavia thought for a second. What  _ did _ she want? Nothing could come to mind. All she remembered during the fight was wanting to prevent needless death. She thought harder but it availed to nothing. Then, the blonde realized something. She didn't know much about her past. She didn't know who her mother was, or her father. As a little girl, she always had a sense of belonging to somewhere else, far far away. Sometimes she would find things that felt familiar but she could never understand why she felt that way. What did it mean?

“If anything, it's that I don't know my past at all. My real parents and all that. Not a clue as to who they were. My foster parents never told me anything either. Though they weren't ever much good to begin with anyway.” Octavia said with a soft and somber voice.

“Hmm. How about this? If you work for us, we will in turn help you find your parents. Will that do?” Miles negotiated. 

“What? You'd do that?”

“Don't take it the wrong way, we  _ want _ your talents. If it means having to help with some fetch quest, whatever. That's fine with me. We’re low on talent and we need you.”

“Huh. Then, when do I begin?” Octavia asked.

“Right now, let's go.” Miles responded abruptly.

“Wait what--”

“We have already arranged for a tour of our facilities for you. Get dressed, we leave in fifteen.”

“Hold on! I need to get my Pokémon, too!”

“Then hurry up!” Miles replied fiercely.

After a moment of gulping down her frustration, she got up. She looked him in the eyes and responded with a simple “Yes sir…” 

~~~

They were in a black van, driving through the busy streets of Zuheimer. Miles was driving, while Miyu was in the passenger seat. Max wasn't in the van with them. He had to leave for Brass Squad business. Octavia sat in the back of the van. 

Octavia began to study the interior of the vehicle. It had more guns than what was clearly necessary. Who were these people? They were both insane. Miles was hotheaded and seemed always angry, while Miyu seemed like he had a much more sadistic side to him. 

The blonde decided to take her mind off of these things by just looking out at the traffic. Just some cars driving around, getting to work or whatever else they might have been doing. She found this soothing. 

Suddenly, a car cut them off rudely. Miles had to slam on the brakes to keep the van from crashing. He immediately started swearing. 

“Motherfucker! Watch where you drive you fucking lobotomized Spinda! I hope you have a very indecent day you reject of society!” Miles bellowed with a million years of anger. 

Miyu started giggling at his endless rage for the driver ahead of them. Miles began slamming on the wheel. Octavia changed her mind. These people weren’t crazy, they were fucking insane.

~~~

“Alright, we’re here.” Miles said. 

Octavia looked outside the van. She saw a coffee shop named Joltin’ Joe’s. Was this really the SDA? 

“Is  _ this  _ our destination?” Octavia asked.

“We had to put a coverup coffee shop because we kept getting-- let's say-- unwanted attention…” Miyu answered. 

Octavia unbuckled herself and got out of the van. Miyu and Miles also stepped out of the vehicle. Miles clicked the keys and locked the door to the van. Octavia approached it to get a better look at the shop. 

It had a flower bed in the front of the shop, as well as a lamp hanging next to the doorway. Detectives certainly had a sense of style. 

Miles strode inside and Miyu followed after, a bell ringing as the door swung open. Octavia stepped inside. 

Inside, a cozy wooden bar with high seats set up next to it. Behind the bar, an assortment of shelves containing different glasses and coffee beans. A round man with a goatee was tending to the bar. 

Across from the bar were booths that had leather cushions and a wooden table between the seats. Above them were lamps hanging from the ceiling that cast a nice orange tint to the environment. 

“Ah Miles, Miyu! Back with our new recruit?” The man with a goatee asked. 

“As planned, she is here. She will need to get accustomed to this workplace quickly, as we have a job we should have been working on right now.  _ But _ , a certain person had to catch the president's attention.” Miles replied. Octavia wasn't sure if she should feel a pang of guilt or not, but it happened nonetheless.

“Well then you better head upstairs, boss man has been looking for you.” The man informs them. 

Miles nodded and walked past the bar and up the stairs that were next to them. 

“Thanks, Joe.” Miyu bows.

Next to the bar were stairs that lead to who knows where. Miles went ahead and walked up the stairs, Miyu followed suit. Octavia followed them up.

The stairway with cracking drywall soon turned into a hallway. The walls were painted a dull green. The fluorescent lights in the hall were flickering. 

Through the hall there were a bunch of doors, but Miles kept walking until the end of the hallway. He opened the last door and walked in. 

Octavia carefully followed the two detectives into the room. It turned out to be a lot bigger than expected.

The room was an office, with wooden desks lined up in rows. At the head of the room was one big desk. Sitting at that desk was a man with dusty red hair. He wore a maroon hoodie and was writing intently. 

Miles immediately walked over to his desk and stood up straight. Was this man his superior?

“I've returned with the recruit, sir.” Miles said. 

“Good work. Please, continue with your work.” The man told him. 

“Yes sir.” Miles bowed and left, off to workaholic land. 

“Miyu, please bring the recruit over here.” The superior officer ordered him. 

Miyu smiled “Of course~!”

The pink haired man grabbed Octavia by the hand and dragged her over to the intimidating figure. Once the blonde was brought to the front of his desk, she could see that the man and his piercing, red eyes. 

“Your name is Octavia Aldark, correct?”

“Yes it is, sir.”

“Good. My name is Rusty Linzfield. From now on, I will be your boss. You do not have a choice in the matter.” Rusty told the girl. 

“..What do you mean?” Octavia asked. 

“People like you and me, aura ability users, the law doesn't like us. They think we're savage creatures akin to Pokémon. So they give us a choice. Either work for them, or go to prison. I assume you don't want to spend the rest of your life in a jail cell, right?”

“People like us? I'm sorry but I don't think I'll really impress you with any abilities I might have. I'm just a normal girl.” Octavia replied, a hint of sadness in her voice. 

“Well, you don't have to worry about impressing us. Because you already have. Here, look at this.” Rusty held out a tablet to Octavia. “Go ahead and hit play on that video.”

Octavia took the tablet into her hands and hit play. It was security footage from the Steelix fight. Octavia saw herself get launched across the lobby into Xinnia’s desk. She observed the rest of events play out and eventually she witnessed another of herself come out of her own body. And it hit the Steelix hard enough to break it to pieces. 

Octavia couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. A bloodied and beaten version of herself, destroy a fucking  _ Steelix _ . It confused her. 

“This.. couldn't have been me… could it?” Octavia said. 

“Why don't you tell me?” Rusty replied. 

“I don't even know how to actually  _ use _ that.. what am I?” Octavia continued into a downward spiral. 

“Hey.” Miyu put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. Octavia looked over to him with a grimace. 

“It's okay to not know how to use your ability at first. I know I didn't. It takes time but that's why we're here to help you!” Miyu cheered with a peachy smile. 

“Miyu..” Octavia was taken aback by the kindness Miyu displayed. No one had ever been this kind to her, minus Ace.

“Besides, why would we keep a detective that can't even do the thing we hired her to do!” Miyu continued. 

Octavia immediately took back her feelings. Miyu was the devil, she decided. 

“In any case,” Rusty spoke up, “we need you to get some experience. And we need that ASAP. We’ll have our interns handle the move from your home to here. You go follow detective 80 for today.”

“Wait what, move???”

“The law says you need to be monitored. They don't like quote unquote dangerous magic humans just being left around unsupervised. bunch of bullshit, but it helps workplace morale.” Rusty replied while writing out reports. 

“..So where is 80?” Octavia asked. 

Suddenly, a roar of anger, followed by hysterical laughter came from across the room. Octavia turned to see a woman with a camo bomber jacket keeling over laughing while Miles was standing above her, pulling at his own hair. 

“I swear on the sweet legendary Pokémon that watch over us that I will fucking  _ kill _ you.” Miles swore.

“If you can catch me, jackass!” The girl started sprinting in the other direction. The angriest man alive pursued his target across the office. The brown haired girl would dodge him ever so slightly with every attack he launched. 

Eventually, after messing with Miles enough, she tripped him. Miles fell flat on his face, and then the petite girl took his hands and held them against his back like she was arresting him. 

She then sat on them, giving him the inability to move. Miles squirmed around violently, swearing up a storm. The unnamed girl simply laughed at his pain. 

“How's it going down there~?” The girl asked.

“...H-heavy…” Miles muttered. The woman was immediately bugged. 

“How's  _ this _ for heavy?!” She said as she put even more weight on him. Miles grunted in pain. 

K.O!

Octavia was bewildered beyond comprehension. What the fuck was she witnessing? Was every person that worked here utterly insane? What was everyone's problem?

“Octavia.” Rusty got her attention. “You will be working with 80, who is currently crushing Miles. Just follow her lead and everything will be fine.” 

Octavia Aldark, as a woman who respects efficiency and consistency, was terrified of working with these lunatics. They weren’t just crazy, they were  _ insane _ . The office was more of a nuthouse than anything else. 

80 hopped off her perch and walked up to the gargantuan woman. She held out her hand to shake hands. Octavia shook hands with the strange girl. 

“Nice to meet you, I'm Adelaide. But you can just call me 80.” 80 told Octavia. 

“I'm Octavia..” she quietly replied.

“Since it's your first day, I don't expect you to do much, but if you  _ did _ do something that'd be pretty epic. So basically all we will be doing today is lookin’ for clues and shit. We’re like, looking for this supposed _ monster _ of a murderer. Every time we find the body they're always hacked to pieces. The murder weapon is always bladed which is  _ pretttty _ interesting cus’ the guys who always die have guns on them. Like, why didn't they just shoot him?? But the guns always had missing rounds so they  _ were _ fired, but for some reason that just ain't got shit on him. Oh yeah, soz for talkin’ too fast. I tend to get that a lot. Heheh anyway, let's go!” And she immediately did a 180 and left the room. 

“Wh-what..?” The confused woman turns to Rusty. “Am I supposed to follow her?”

Rusty looks up from his work for a few seconds. “I think so.”

Octavia suddenly scrambled to chase after 80. 


	5. Isle Unto Thyself

Chapter 5: Isle Unto Thyself 

  
  


Octavia burst down the hallway after 80. She spotted the elusive girl go through a door that she hadn’t gone through before. Octavia caught up to the same door 80 went through. 

On it read ‘no organisms allowed’. Octavia was questioning whether she should go inside after 80. The smell of oil came from the room in question. 

Octavia knocked on the door “80? What are you doing?” 

A muffled voice came from deep in the room. Octavia leaned against the wall next to the doorway. “Just a second! I wanted to get some gadgets and equipment!” 

Octavia sighed. She heard rumbling and metal falling to the floor from inside. “Aha! Found it!”

Immediately the door was kicked wide open, almost hitting Octavia smack on the face. 80 emerged from the lightless room and then slammed the door shut and locked it up. After locking the door, the girl started marching towards the stairway. Octavia followed her.

“So, who are we tracking down?” Octavia asked while they stepped down the stairs and into the coffee shop. 

“Glad you asked! We nicknamed him The Beast, ‘cus all the bodies he leaves behind are chopped to pieces! His M.O is always the same, and he never cleans up after himself. It's basically impossible to find any evidence about him though. Other than one singular thing.” At this, 80 turned around and looked up at Octavia who was still on the stairs. 

“What is it?”

“Blood.” 80 said. 

“Explain.”

“At every scene we find the same man’s blood, and we suspect that blood to be The Beast’s.” 80 deadpanned. 

“Why don't the police just handle this, then?” Octavia asked.

“Because the police don't like dealing with investigations of supernatural nature. In fact, the only branch of police that deals with supernatural shit is the all so prestigious Brass Squad, but they only deal with raids, not investigations.” 80 continued. 

“Wait, so, are  _ we _ the police?” 

“Yes and no. Yes because we handle investigations and shit. No because we’re more of a government side project than anything else. They don't like dealing with supernatural shit, so why not just make a force that  _ is _ supernatural and make that force deal with the shit they don't want to.” 80 opened and walked out the door and into the street. 

Octavia was blinded by the sunlight when she stepped into the street. She raised her hand to her face to block the sun while 80 unlocked and hopped into the van. Octavia walked up to the van’s passenger seat and opened the door. She was greeted with the engine roaring from 80 turning the keys.

She hopped in and got comfy, putting on her seatbelt. 

Octavia spoke up. “So, where to?”

~~~

Cleaved in half. Ripped to shreds. Went through a whole ass blender. 80 was  _ not _ joking when she was telling Octavia what these corpses looked like. She nearly vomited when they got to the crime scene. 

80 started around, looking for pieces of evidence she could use to catch the culprit. The crime scene was an alleyway, tucked between two towering buildings. The neighborhood this occurred was near the infamous Clover Garden neighborhood. That part of the city was a den of thieves, criminals, and the like. 

The biggest gangs and mafias thrived there. Most notable of these are Team Rocket, the Heyline Mafia, and the Crimson Mafia. Team Rocket didn't have too much quarrel with any of the other gangs, other than when they fought over territory to sell drugs. The Heyline Mafia were an old gang, being founded near the start of the Nivalhiemian Empire. Generation after generation of mob boss, the dynasty of the name Heyline dominates the Clover Garden, as well as other neighborhoods. Finally, the Crimson Mafia. It is a small organization that operates in the shadows. It's reach is unknown but it is very much felt. The Crimson Mafia is said to have been formed when a fracture occurred in the Heyline Mafia’s ranks. 

Octavia absorbed this information like a sponge from 80’s constant babbling while probing the dead bodies for quote unquote research. 

“Hey, 80.”

“Mhm?” 

“How did you get involved with the SDA?” Octavia inquired.

“I.. uh…” 80 paused, and for the first time, seemed sad. “I’d rather not talk about it, thanks.”

“Oh, no problem. Sorry for asking such a personal question..” Octavia apologized. 

“Nah, it's fine. Let's just focus on catching the beast!” 80 awkwardly laughed. 

Octavia just stood there feeling kind of guilty. She felt weird and didn’t really know what to do. A few more moments of silence. 

“Why are we the only ones here? There should be other officers, right?”

“Ah! An excellent question! That is because our existence is technically a secret. Our regional lords don’t want the potential enemy to discover our identities. They leave us to our own devices and we get the jobs done.” 80 informed Octavia.

Octavia had to constantly keep herself from looking at the corpses, or rather, what was left of them. The smell of blood hung in the air. 

80 was visibly getting frustrated with her investigative skills not getting put to good use. “Fuck. Everything is the same. It’s all the fucking same!”

“What’s the same?”

“These people here are Heyline Mafia members. All the victims have some sort of affiliation with criminal organizations. Is the beast some kind of weird vigilante?”

“Sounds like it. Using a bladed weapon to kill countless amounts of criminals sounds like a TV show premise.” Octavia retorted. 

“Yeah, hah. He’s like some super robot humanoid dude that cuts people apart with his bladed elbows or some shit.” 80 laughed. 

Octavia smiles at the joke and then realizes she’s smiling while she’s supposed to be tracking a killer down. 

God, today has been weird. 

“So where are ya from Octy? I wasn’t informed much about ya other than you’re tall and that you occasionally beat a Steelix to death.”

“Octy?”

“Yeah, Octavia, Octy.”

“Huh. Okay then.”

“So! Where from?”

“I’m from Morning Grove, a mostly suburban town. Small population. Y’know.”

“Not very descriptive, I’d say. Did you have unpleasant memories there?”

“Uh.. sure.”

“Ah, I get it. Don’t worry about talking ‘bout it further. Everyone in the SDA has something they want to forget. Though, that’s what makes us powerful.” 80 said while calmly typing something on her laptop. 

“..How?”

“How what?”

“How does that make everyone powerful?”

“What do you think our desires come from, silly? It’s simple enough a 2 year old could do the math. To want something, there has to be incentive. To make an incentive, there has to be a threat. That threat comes in the form of bad times. Simple, ez.”

“Huh..”

Octavia spoke up. “So what if.. what if there’s no incentive?”

80 simply stared back at her. 

~~~

“Fuck, that’s gotta be the longest time I’ve sat on a gross alley floor.” 80 complained. She stretched her arms behind her head and groaned. 

80 stood up, folding her laptop and putting it to her side. “Alright. Let’s head home, shall we?” 

Octavia nodded. “Sure.”

80 had already started speed walking from the crime scene. Octavia strolled along, following her. But something was weird. Octavia stopped moving.

Octavia got  _ that _ strange feeling. The same when she saw that dead police officer in the hall of memorials. Something was amiss, just ever so slightly disturbing her. 

“Octy! You coming?” 80 yelled down the alley. 

“Yeah.. just give me a moment.”

“Alright, I'll go start up the van.” 80 left. 

Octavia was now alone.

~~~

Octavia wandered around the dark alleyways for a while without paying much attention. She felt lost in her mind, despite knowing mostly how to get back home. 

The concrete jungle served as the path during her mindless drivel. Octavia’s mind went blank. She disassociated herself with reality for what felt like a second and infinity at the same time. 

Step after step she stumbled. Something in her mind was just telling her to keep walking forward. And then, she stopped.

She came to a halt in front of a dumpster. Reality flooded back into her consciousness. Octavia looked in front of the dumpster and noticed a hand sticking out. It took her a few seconds to react. 

Octavia reeled back in fright at what looked to be a dismembered hand in a dumpster. She bumped into a wall behind her. After a few seconds of staring at the ominous hand, she decided to investigate. 

The girl inched towards the body part, keeping her disgruntled gaze close on it. She reached out and touched it. It was warm?

After a twitch of the hand, Octavia realized that, holy shit, there is a whole entire person in there. 

“Uh, hello..?” This is where the inexperienced part of Octavia came to fruition. Having never lived in a big city before, she's never witnessed homeless people on the street. To the fledgling city dweller, a homeless person would be a new and rare occurrence. She simply doesn't have the apathy of someone who has lived here for years. 

The hand reached up and grabbed the end of the dumpster. A man emerged from the rubbish, gasping for air. Octavia near screamed. “Fuck! I thought I was gonna die!”

The man wore a bandanna over his mouth and nose, as well as a dull blue hoodie. His skin was tan and his eyes shone a golden color. Octavia could see bandages underneath his hoodie that wrapped around his neck at least. His hair was dark black. “Um.. are you okay..?”

“Whatcha lookin’ at, blondie? Huh?” The man spat. He attempted lifting his leg up and out of the dumpster but fell over onto the concrete floor, landing on his face. He wore black jeans. 

“Are you alright?” Octavia asked instinctively. He quickly got up. She wasn't really thinking before the words came out of her mouth. She was getting a hazy feeling in her mind that this guy was okay. 

“What's it to you?” The man jumped out of the dumpster and landed next to her. The height of Octavia became apparent as soon as he stood next to her. “Damn, you're tall for a chick.”

Octavia was getting that feeling again. Like she forgot something. But, this time she had something tangible. “Who are you?”

“I'm telling you, lady, why do you want to know who I am? More importantly, who are you?”

Octavia hesitated. “My name is Octavia Aldark. And your name is?”

“Just call me Lemon.”

“That's your actual name?” Octavia asked. 

“It's a nickname.” Lemon’s stomach growled loudly. “Fuck, I'm hungry.” Lemon started off down an alleyway towards a busy street. Octavia tried to keep up with him. 

“Oi, why are you following me?” Lemon asked with a hint of intimidation.

“People in bad situations deserve help. I'm going to buy you some lunch.” Octavia replied.

“What do you mean ‘bad situation’?!” 

“I would call waking up almost suffocating in a dumpster a bad situation, wouldn't you?”

“I mean.. yeah, maybe…”

“Let's get you some food.” Octavia said, pulling Lemon along.

Lemon gave up, he was getting free food and that was enough incentive for him to follow the strange woman. 

~~~

Inside the restaurant, Lemon was sitting opposite of Octavia. He decided not to question the girl’s intentions. 

Octavia silently waited for the food to arrive. The two didn't talk much as Lemon opted to space out completely.

Octavia was sitting up straight as opposed to Lemon, who was slouching over. He would whistle if he knew how to. 

The food they had ordered was pizza. Half was sausage, pepperoni, and black olives. The other half was just sausage. 

A waitress carrying a pizza caught the eye of Lemon. It was their pizza.

The waitress waltzed to their booth and placed it down in the middle with a pizza cutter.

“Enjoy your food!” She cheered. 

“Thank you.” Octavia replied, not making eye contact with her. 

Lemon greedily took all the slices that were his and placed it onto his own plate. Lemon attempted to bite into a piece but regretted it because it was too hot. 

Octavia watched him and almost laughed to herself. She then grabbed the hot sauce from the side of the table and poured it on her own pizza. Lemon cringed at the sight of hot sauce covering the pizza. Octavia did not commit any measly sin, what she had done in Lemon’s eyes was an unforgivable act. She should be hanged for the war crimes she had just committed. 

But she kept pouring. He couldn't take it. Lemon kept staring at Octavia, terrified of the way she ate it. 

“What the fuck?” Lemon’s voice cracked out of his mouth with pure disgust. 

“Mhm?” Octavia was confused.

“How much hot sauce do you need to put on that piece of fucking pizza?”

“Enough so that it's good.” Octavia replied flatly.

“Ok, so I have two problems with that. First problem, who fucking puts goddamn hot sauce on their pizza? Second problem, why the fuck would you put enough hot sauce on that slice of pizza to nuke a small island nation?” Lemon spewed. 

“Because the small island nation in my mouth likes being nuked.” Octavia retorted.

Lemon deadpanned at the woman, who was enjoying her practically radioactive pizza. Lemon’s face crumpled into disgust. She closed her eyes and made a small smile at the taste of it. Octavia was in bliss at the fiery rage in her mouth. 

Eventually, Lemon concluded that it wasn't worth wasting anymore breath over and that maybe he should just eat. 

~~~

After that feast, Octavia felt stuffed and so did Lemon. Octavia checked her phone. She looked at the time and it was already late into the evening. She had completely lost track of time. 

“Oh fuck.” Octavia said in a quick spurt. 

“What? Did all that hot sauce finally burn off your tongue?”

Octavia started by grabbing her stuff. She set down enough money to pay for the pizza. “No, but I have to go. It's late. It was nice meeting you.” And she left. Lemon was left at the restaurant alone. 

Lemon looked at the leftover pizza. He picked one piece up and took a bite. Not because he was hungry but because he was bored. 

“What a weird chick.”

~~~

After a nice sprint, Octavia finally made it back to the front for the SDA, Joltin’ Joe’s. She was grasping for the air that divorced her lungs after that sprint. After a few seconds of breathing, they decided to get back together. 

She walked into the shop and up the stairs. A quick turn down the hallway and into the office she flew. After entering she was met with the cold eyes of none other than her boss, Rusty. 

“I trust you were out becoming more familiar with the city you're going to be working in?” He said without any anger she expected. 

“Uh.. yes, sir..” Octavia replied.

“Good, I'm glad. All of your stuff has been moved into our training room. Since there are no readily available dorms, you must sort of camp out there.”

“Um, okay..”

“I encourage you to familiarize yourself with the training room, as I suspect you might be using it a lot.”

Octavia started towards the hallway door.

“Oh and Octavia?” She quickly turned around. 

“Yes sir?” 

“Welcome to the team.” Rusty said with a soft smile. 

“Yeah..” Octavia quickly left to go check out where she would be staying. 


	6. Black Rainbows

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> author note hours: i cant believe i hit 30 hits tbh. i also hope everyone is staying safe at home, away from viruses and whatnot.

Chapter 6: Black Rainbows

Octavia walked into the hallway and made a quick right. The mossy green paint coloring the walls seemed to grow on her. Her footsteps were the only noise she could hear. 

A door that read ‘Training Room’ sat quietly at the end of the hallway. The rustic door was practically falling apart. She grabbed the handle and twisted for it to make a sharp squeak. Octavia crept through the doorway, which revealed a stairway.

Octavia noted how creepy this all felt. This didn’t stop her from walking down the stairs. The wooden steps were creaking every time she set a foot down. The stairs kept going. Octavia started asking herself how long this thing was. 

At the bottom of the stairs was an open doorway to a dark room. Next to the doorway was a metric fuck ton of light switches. The dark room invited her inside. She flipped on the switches to reveal a giant room, easily the size of a football field. 

Inside the gargantuan training room was all of her stuff packed neatly into boxes. There was also a tent next to all her stuff. She assumed that they set up that tent for her to sleep in. She looked inside the tent and there was a futon, as well as an extension cord that was plugged into the floor. They also left her with a small lamp. 

She looked at her phone. It was already night time. Octavia felt weary after the long day she just had. 

Octavia went and grabbed Ace’s pokeball and let him out. With a flash he came out and waved to her. He seemed confused at their surroundings. 

“Hey there, bud. I know you're confused but we're going to have to stay here for a while. I'd help wipe you down right now but I'm tired beyond belief. We can get to doing that stuff tomorrow, ‘kay?”

He saluted his superior officer. 

~~~

“Fuck, I hate this.” 

A bottle of alcohol hit the floor. The man’s name was no longer important to him. It was past that point. Why would something that isn't human need a name anymore?

His wife and his daughter left him. Well, his daughter was going to leave anyway, she was all grown up now, after all. But all he did was make one stupid mistake. 

Just one mistake. 

It's so dumb.

Suddenly, a knock on his front door. 

“ Mr. Collins, open up, this is the police!” And they kept fucking knocking. 

He was so sick of all this. He wanted everything to just go away. 

But he saw something in the corner of his living room, a glimmer.

A creature that looked like a black sword and shield. It was a shiny Aegislash. 

“Come on… I'm tired of waiting…” It’s cryptic voice spread itself into his mind. He was angry at everything. The stupid police. His ex-wife. They deserve to all go to hell!

“Grab my hilt. I will answer all of your problems.” His solution was right in front of him.

“Police! Please open the door, Mr. Collins!” More knocking was banging on the door, causing more anxiety to swell and fester in the broken man. He inched closer to the Pokémon, reaching his hand out to him. 

And then, he touched the hilt.

“Finally, a new host!” Immediately, the Aegislash’s arm-like appendages wrapped around the man’s arms. He screamed in pain. The shield of the Aegislash moved itself to his back. He could feel the darkness swallowing him whole. 

~~~

“Get ready to breach.” The officer ordered coldly. The rest of the officers moved into their respective positions wordlessly. 

“One, two--” and the door slowly creaked open before they breached.

“Hello officers.” Mr. Collins looked at them with a soft smile on his face, but something was wrong. The right side of his face was pitch black, not only that but so was his entire right arm and shoulder. It was like the sword he was holding had infected him. 

“Mr. Collins! You are--” And the officer was cut in half. The other officers stared in disbelief and utter fear. 

“Die.” Mr. Collins said. And with one slash, he cut the rest of the officers in half horizontally. Blood poured onto his doorstep. 

“Tell me, demon sword, what is your name?” 

“My name? Why, it's Excalibur. I've been watching you for quite a while now, Gene Collins.” 

Gene placed Excalibur onto his back, where it fastened itself tightly. With that, he fled, vanishing into the shadows of the city.

“Let us begin.”

~~~

Ace cut the packaging tape on the boxes off so Octavia could continue unpacking all her stuff. Octavia pulled out all of her clothes and organized them all by type. Then, she proceeded to place it all in different drawers in a wooden dresser which was next to her tent. 

After she had finished unpacking her stuff, Octavia decided she and Ace should work out. She quickly changed into suitable clothes for working out and walked to just outside their tent. 

“Alright, Ace! What do we do first when working out?” Ace responded by stretching his right arm over his left side.

“That's correct, we stretch.” She patted the side of his helmet. Despite being made completely of metal he had shown significant improvement since they started working out together, years before. Octavia thought the biology of Pokémon was interesting.

After doing some basic stretches, they moved onto the workout. They had this specific regimen they had been working on for a long time. Squats, lunges, and push-ups were the few main exercises they did. It was hard trying to work around Ace’s knife hands.

He would stab everything, from medicine balls to the floor. It was all susceptible. Octavia had to buy Ace a metal sheet to do push-ups on so that she wouldn’t damage the floor. That was probably one of her best purchases. Luckily enough, since she was staying in the training room, the floor was hard enough to allow Ace to do push-ups. 

Octavia was pretty happy about her arrangements, despite how odd they may seem. Her new co-workers seemed… interesting, to say the least. She wasn’t too keen on interacting with others too much but, it’s inevitable. She decided to accept that inevitability.

Besides, it’s not like her colleagues are actual assholes. Miles may have been the angriest person alive but he didn’t seem mean at heart. Just… punctual. 80 seemed to be what someone from a famous 70’s rock band a Wild Ride™. Miyu seemed nice enough. And finally, Rusty was a good responsible boss type of person. Any good organization needs one of those. 

Though, they are a bit undermanned. Including her, they only had 5 whole detectives. That wasn’t much. Plus, she was untrained. How experienced was the rest of the crew? Octavia was pondering on all of these questions while working out with Ace.

She adored the little man. And everyone should, too. He’s really goddamn cute.

After their workout they decided to wash off. Octavia took a towel and rubbed her body with it. Soon thereafter, she went to one end of the training room, where she found a hose. She wiped and hosed down Ace. He always loved playing in water.

The water simply sunk into the floor. This place was a top tier training room that’s for certain. She always wanted to work out in a place like this but never got the chance to, because she wasn’t always given that much money by her foster parents. She could only afford to use her school’s gym and equipment.

That train of thought soon led Octavia right back to the center question. How the hell did this all happen?

Through the doorway at the other end of the training room walked in none other than her new associate, Miles. He walked straight towards the duo of Pokemon and trainer.

“Good. You’re up. I was worried I would have to wake you.”

“No, we’re good. We usually wake up this early anyway.” She replied.

“In that case, please come with me. We have a mandatory meeting upstairs.”

“Oh?”

~~~

Rusty spoke up. “This morning, officers were trying to speak with a certain Mr. Gene Collins. They were banging on his door and our friend Gene stepped out of his house and cut them all apart. Multiple eyewitnesses identify this man as orange haired, blue eyes, white skin, and a beer belly. He stands at about 5’’9” and 210 lbs. He is also armed with an Aegislash.”

“An Aegislash, sir?” Miles asked.

“Yes, a discolored Aegislash seems to have strapped itself to the man named Gene Collins. He was recently arrested for running someone over while under the influence of alcohol, the man died on the way to the hospital. His court date was set for… just last week.”

Rusty grimaced while looking at photos taken of the crime scene. Octavia spoke up. “He felt cornered maybe? That sounds like a good enough motive as to why he did that.” Rusty was silently pleased that the new girl wasn’t afraid to give input. 

Miyu pinched his chin. “A cornered beast will always use it’s fangs. But in this case it’s a Pokemon. Speaking of, how is he holding the Aegislash without his life force being sucked away?”

“I’ve read reports of a discolored Aegislash that has been around for a couple hundred years, that has a taste for human life. But the most recent report was from over thirty years ago. Could it be the same one?” Miles added.

80 jumped in. “Interesting! An Aegislash that has found a way to self sustain by choosing to have a symbiotic relationship between a human and its own self. Instead of just draining the life force of the person that grabs the hilt, the person simply is stuck wielding the sword!”

Rusty snapped to get everyone’s attention. “Whatever it’s doing, we need more information. Miles, 80, I want you two to investigate the crime scene. Miyu, Octavia check the reports Miles mentioned, they should be in our archives. That should also serve as an introduction to the archives for Octavia. Is everything clear?”

“Yes sir!” Everyone replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next update after this might be a bit, all this pandemic stuff is really messing with me rn


	7. Manhunt

Chapter 7: Manhunt

His name was Miles Arthur. He graduated top of his class at the private highschool he went to. His test scores were perfect. He was on track to going to the best college in the nation. But something happened.

He was met with pressure. From his peers to his parents. Everything was a mess. He wanted to escape so bad. But more than any of that, he wanted to  _ succeed _ . More than anything, that was what he wanted.

Miles desired to become a sort of person that anyone could look up to. His dream was to soar high above everyone else. And with the pressure his desire to succeed only grew and grew. Until one day, his aura ability awakened.

His desire to succeed came in the form of two metal discs on both of his hands. At will he could open up the small discs like they were hatches to missile silos. From that he could shoot out rockets. He could glide using these rockets by holding onto them and letting them fire off. 

But in return for this power he was ostracized. His parents disowned him and the police wanted to arrest him. He had one of those strange powers. He couldn’t understand why they hated him for his powers until he started working at the SDA.

Even now, evidence for why people who have these powers should be locked up was right in front of him. Police officers were laying on the ground in bloody pieces. Miles felt sorry that he couldn’t do anything for them.

Yellow police tape surrounded the scene. The sky was a sullen gray. He felt like the world was weeping for these poor officers. Miles looked over to his best friend, 80, who was walking into the house where the wretched man who did this lived.

80 felt the floor. It was made of wood, unvarnished, dusty. Whoever lived here wasn’t worried over how the place looked. She saw that there was a couch in the middle of the living room. The couch was pointed towards the front of the house’s wall. An old television was laying on a cabinet, opposite of the couch.

The gray light seeped it’s way into the rundown house. 80 could feel the sadness resonating from the location. A frown was growing on 80’s face until Miles put a hand on her shoulders. 

80 nodded. “Thanks, Miles.”

~~~

Miles dove into the refrigerator of the house. He noticed bottles of an outlawed Nivalhiemian drink known as ‘burn wine’. This was an important clue. 

Burn wine was made illegal after it took the nation by storm because of its property of being highly addictive. There was a saying that “a drop would make you stop.”

After a member of the royal family got addicted to the wine, the queen outlawed it. No one was allowed to sell or manufacture the item. She had completely demonized the damned thing.

“If I were a murderer, where would I be hiding?” Miyu asked.

Miles replied. “I would go to Clover Garden.”

“What makes you say that?”

“Our friend Mr. Gene Collins seemed to fancy himself some illegal substances.”

“Such as?”

“Burn wine.”

“Ah. So, where to?”

“The Clover Garden.”

~~~

Octavia read through file after file in a dark room, filled with bookshelf after bookshelf. Miyu did the same. The light in the room glowed a dim orange. 

She was reading a report about someone seeing something they shouldn't have been seeing. The text described it as a vision of sorts. The person who made this report must have been drunk. 

“Miyu, why is there a report like this here?”

“What's it about?”

“It's about some guy seeing hallucinations or something. Don't you think this shouldn't belong here?”

“Well, all strange sightings and reports pass into here. Hoax or not, we can't afford to look over a single detail here.” Miyu said while flipping through pages.

“Hmm.”

~~~

“So, mister detective, what brings you to this part of town?” A man in a suit and tie asked. Miles kept constant eye contact with him. He was not backing down. 

“We’re here to investigate for a case, nothing more.” Miles calmly stated.

“Cut the crap four eyes! This is Heyline territory! You flatflooted bastards don't belong here!” The mafia man was not about to let them into their bar.

80 was growing tired of this lame ass dummy who was getting in their way. So she decided to speak up.

“Listen, chum pal friend man, pretty please let us into your bar? I'm getting  _ really _ tired of waiting here.” 80 crossed her arms.

The bouncer towered over 80. He stepped closer to make the difference in size much more apparent.

“What’re you gonna do pipsqueak?”

She stepped closer and leaned her face close to his.

“ **Beat the shit outta ya probsly.** ” She said with a smirk.

Miles cut between them. “Enough, we have business to take care of.” He motioned to the bouncer. “There's a man on the loose who has enough power to instantly cut people in half, I need you to let me in so I can speak with the bartender. You don't have to worry about getting shut down by us. We’re here to talk, not fight. That means you, 80.”

80 sighed and backed off, reaching her arms behind her head. “Fine, fine.”

“Please, tell us what you know about this man.” Miles held up a picture of Gene Collins. 

The bouncer looked to the side in frustration before turning back. 

“He was a regular here. Used to come once a week. Then twice a week. Then almost daily.”

“So I assume the bartender must know quite a bit of information huh?”

“I can’t let you in. Sorry, but the higher-ups will kill me if they ever find out.” 

80 cut in. “How about you bring him out here then? We ask him questions and your life will be spared!” 

“Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn ya if trouble comes knocking.”

~~~

The bartender let out a puff of smoke. He motioned the cigarette down to his side. “Gene, huh?” He took the lit cigarette and breathed in its toxic smoke.

He spoke. “He always came here when he was feelin’ blue.”

“Has he ever mentioned any places he might’ve fled to?” Miles asked.

“Hmm. Let me think…” He let out another puff. The smell of smoke filled Miles’ nostrils.

“We need answers.”

“He mentioned having an alternate apartment in the Clover Garden. It should be just down the street from here.” He pointed down the street.

“Thank you for your time.” Miles bowed. 80 saw this and also, awkwardly bowed. Miles started off.

“80, please call Rusty, we’re heading home now.”

“Alrighty.” 80 replied while picking her phone out of her pocket.

She flipped to the contact for Rusty and hit the call button. After a couple rings he picked up.

“Hello?”

“We have a good idea of where he is, boss.”

“Good. Report back so we can hold a meeting.”

“Aye aye, cap!”

~~~

Octavia was reading through yet another drunk man’s report when Miyu tapped on her shoulder.

“Hey, Rusty’s calling us in for a meeting. We gotta go.” Miyu whispered.

“Yeah, sure.”

With that, Miyu and Octavia left the archives and started towards the office. Octavia noticed that in times like these Miyu’s face seemed to tense up a little bit. Octavia decided that then maybe she should take it a little more seriously.

They walked into the office and spotted Rusty. 

“Please take a seat, Miles will let us know what they found while out in the field today.” 

Octavia and Miyu nodded and sat down.

~~~

Miles and 80 walked into the room and headed towards the front of the room. 80 immediately began twiddling her thumbs.

Miles spoke up. “I’ve learned of a possible location where Mr. Gene Collins might be hiding. I’m texting you all the information now. We had to talk to some certain Heyline members so we may have to deal with those bastards if they ever decide to cash in on the favors we owe. Mafiamen always like sniff out any possible sources of cash they can get their hands on, after all.”

80 chipped in. "This might be our only chance to nab this guy, we should raid his place before he runs off to be made into just another urban legend!"

“I see.” Rusty said. “I want all of you to get ready. We will be raiding his apartment immediately. Now go. I need to make a few calls to clear the area.”

A “Yes sir!” resounded throughout the room.

~~~

Octavia, ready with combat boots and Ace’s pokeball, was sitting in the cover up coffee shop, Joltin Joe’s. She was sipping black coffee, it was the best kind, after all.

Miyu walked over to her. He sat down, sipping a cup of tea. He spoke.

“How is it?”

“How’s what?”

“Adjusting to a new life that you’re just kind of-- thrown into.”

“It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But.. I feel like I don’t know what I’m doing..” Octavia hunched her legs and her body closer together.

“Well, it gets better at least. I just wanted to tell you that.” Miyu gripped his tea a bit harder.

Octavia looked up.

“What do you mean?”

Miyu scratched the back of his head. “Well, we were all sort of shoved into this, one way or another.” He took another sip. “We all have something we don’t want to share. And whether we like it or not, we’re family now.”

“Huh.” Octavia hadn’t realized that. She didn’t think to herself how might everyone else have gotten this job.

Miyu stood up. “Well! This will be your first raid, so try and be careful. Then again, if you’re not, I can just heal you right after.”

He walked outside to go start the van. Octavia was still lost in thought.

Octavia tried to take a sip of her coffee, but there was no coffee left. She looked and saw her mug was completely empty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> holy shit 100 hits


	8. Confrontation

Chapter 8: Confrontation

The drive to the apartment was anxious. Miles was driving the van while Miyu was riding shotgun. Rusty and 80 sat in the back with Octavia. 

Rusty got Octavia’s attention with a snap.

“Alright, so. Since you’re new, you don’t know anyone’s aura abilities, minus Miyu’s, since he used it on you. So I will inform you of everyone's abilities.” He spoke with a sort of calmness that helped Octavia feel a bit better. He must have worked this job for quite some time.

Rusty continued. “Miles’ ability is that he has missile silos in his hands, he can shoot out rockets that can be detonated. 80 has a complicated ability, where she can teleport wherever she points, as well as teleport objects or people to her. All she has to do is point her finger at it.”

Octavia was getting a bit confused about Miles’ ability. He had missile silos in his hands? Miles raised his hand back towards Octavia. She could see a metal disc on his hand. 

Miles spoke while driving. “See this? This is my ability. I’d rather not launch a missile right now, however. Destroying our van wouldn’t be very helpful.” Miles turned the steering wheel to the right.

Rusty cut back in. “Just as a refresh for you, Miyu’s ability allows him to heal any physical injury or ailment. He can take those ailments and give them to other people. For some reason, he seems to be quite good at interrogation.”

“Wait, so the injuries that happened to me, he just  _ has _ ?” Octavia replied.

“Yup! Want ‘em back??” Miyu asked a bit too excitedly. Octavia’s face was a concerned look.

“N-no, I’m good.” Octavia said. She decided once again that everyone in this van was fucking insane.

Rusty spoke up. “Finally, my ability is named Fire Bird. I have the ability to summon and control a fire version of most any bird Pokemon. I can use them to scout ahead or for just about anything.”

“That’s confusing..” Octavia said. 

Rusty summoned a tiny fire pidgey right in his palm. It hopped around, dancing in his hand. It started flapping its wings and flew into Octavia’s lap. It chirped at her. It was so cute.

Her mind immediately decided that Rusty had the best ability ever. This was one of the cutest things she had ever seen, second only to Ace. Ace probably wouldn’t like it though, because it was made of fire. He was scared of fire because of a traumatic event that happened years before.

The little fire bird took flight from Octavia’s lap and into Rusty’s right hand. He closed his hand into a fist and the pidgey ceased to exist. She couldn’t help but feel a little sad at that.

“Alright, we’re almost there. Everyone, get ready.” The van came to a halt.

~~~

Everyone had congregated in the back of the van. Rusty was going over the details of how the raid would go down. The plan went something like this - Rusty and Miles were going to be the vanguard, they would break in through the front door and attempt to subdue the murderer. Miyu would be behind them, healing any injuries they would be gaining. They would try to arrest the suspect on the spot right there. If they couldn’t, they had 80 and Octavia in the back alley, where the fire exit was.

80 could teleport Gene right next to her and arrest him immediately. That, or she can just keep him busy long enough. It was an easy enough to understand plan, perfect for a first mission. Octavia was trying to hype herself up for success with this. 

“Everyone understand the plan? Got your roles down?” Rusty asked. Everybody nodded.

“Good, let’s get to it, then, shall we?” Rusty opened the back of the van’s door. Every member silently left the van. Rusty, Miles, and Miyu entered the apartment building, going up to the third floor, where his apartment was. Octavia followed 80 to the alleyway.

Octavia and 80 turned a corner tucked between two buildings. It smelled like garbage covered in fire. The nerves of Octavia were starting to get anxious. ‘What ifs’ started to flood her mind. 

“There. That’s our target’s apartment.” 80 pointed up at a building. Octavia nodded and bit her lip. 80 noticed Octavia’s anxiety.

“Octy, you ok?” 80 asked softly.

“Yeah, just nervous I guess…” She held her elbow and leaned her head to the side.

80 walked up to her and put her hand on Octavia’s shoulder. Octavia looked at her weakly. 

“You’ll be fine, Octapus, we’re the strongest mofos around, and don’t you forget it.” 80 smirked wildly at her.

“All right, thanks..”

“Now let’s get into position. We got a baddie to catch.”

~~~

Miyu followed behind Rusty and Miles, who were moving ahead. They had entered a beige hallway on the third floor of the building. They knew exactly what apartment it was. Apartment 3-4, just down the hallway. 

There were windows that matched where each door was placed. The sky was cloudy so the light they let in was little to none.

As they inched closer, their footsteps became quieter and quieter. The fluorescent lights’ buzz drowned out their hearing. Eventually, it became the only thing they could hear. Once they reached his door, they stopped for a second to think on what they were about to do.

Miles psyched himself up. He whispered under his breath. “1.. 2.. 3!” And kicked down the cheap door. The door practically disintegrated upon being kicked by Miles.

Rusty and Miles stood in the doorway to the small apartment. They were shocked to find out that the apartment contained.. Nothing. No furniture, no person, nothing. Completely empty. There was only an open window at the end of the apartment.

They were so bewildered they almost missed the sound of the window behind them opening. In slow motion, in the corner of his eye, Rusty could see Gene opening the window, about to swing his sword.

“Didn’t take you long to find me, did you?”

~~~

Octavia heard a loud crash resonating from inside the apartment. Her nerves spiked as soon as she recognized and processed the sound as an attack. She looked over to 80 and saw a deadly calm face.

80 was focused completely on the fire exit of the apartment and nothing else. Octavia couldn’t help but admire that sort of calmness.

She wondered if she could ever aspire to become that level of detective.

~~~

Gene swung down Excalibur towards Rusty. As the sword was coming towards him, his eyes widened and his instincts activated. He raised his arm to parry the sword.

In an instant, Rusty’s arm was sacrificed to misdirect Excalibur from cutting Rusty in half. Excalibur struck with such strength that it was sent into the floor. Excalibur got stuck in the wooden floor. Rusty clenched his teeth to keep the stress from getting to him in this very dangerous situation.

Rusty immediately summoned a fire Staraptor, which flew in from the window, ramming Gene into his empty apartment. Miles was very surprised that he could hardly do anything during this short frame of time.

Gene was sent flying all the way into the back of the apartment, crashing into the wall. Excalibur flew itself from being stuck in the floor next to Miles to being next to Gene.

“Miyu! Heal my arm! Now!” Rusty barked. Miyu rushed to heal his commander.

**“Careful, Gene Collins. These people pose a serious threat.”**

“Quiet! I can handle them alone!” Gene yelled back.

~~~

Octavia and 80 could hear yelling coming from inside the apartment building. She subconsciously started to step backwards. 

Her eyes started to dart around at her surroundings, looking at the concrete alley, the brick walls, and the dumpsters.

She started to calm herself down with breathing exercises. She closed her eyes to keep her nerves in check.

For some reason it didn’t take long to calm down. Maybe from her experiences with the Steelix she gained more ability to stay calm? Hell if she knew.

Suddenly, Octavia heard a groaning noise resonating from inside a dumpster next to her. She slowly made her way over and opened the thing. Her eyes recognized a familiar hand sticking out.

“Lemon?”

~~~

**“Listen to me, boy, do you want to get us killed?!”**

“I won’t get us killed!”

The man and his sword continued to argue and bicker. Rusty and his comrades made their way inside the apartment, opposite of the murderer. Rusty’s arm was reattached with Miyu’s ability at this point.

Miles pointed both of his palms towards Gene. The metal discs popped open, revealing two rockets ready to fire. “Please come quietly! We don’t want to hurt you!” Miles yelled.

Gene looked over with extreme amounts of disgust. “Just, shut up. Please, I’m trying to have a conversation here.”

A droplet of sweat rolled down Miles’ face. He didn’t want to shoot the man standing in front of him, especially with the kind of fire power in his rockets. If he wanted to, he could blow the entire building up to kingdom come.

Gene stared down the detectives. He walked over and grabbed Excalibur by the hilt. He immediately lunged towards them. Miles freaked and shot off his missiles, which one hit the broad side of Excalibur, as well as the shield the Aegislash had. 

The killer leapt towards them trying to swing down his weapon on Miles. This attack was blocked by a summoned and fiery version of Aerodactyl’s wing. As soon as the attack was stopped dead in its tracks, Gene let go of Excalibur and tackled Miles to the ground.

Miles tried kicking him off but Mr. Collins wouldn’t let go. “Get off me!” Miles yelled. Miles pushed his palm underneath Gene and shot off another rocket. The missile tore through Gene’s flesh, going straight through his torso. It then launched into the ceiling getting stuck somewhere inside of the building

Gene let go of Miles, scrambling back to the edge of the room. He was in terrible pain.

Rusty and Miles started running towards him, before being stopped by Excalibur floating in front of them.

**“Stop, human scum. His life is worth much more than your own.”** The haunted sword then immediately floated to Gene’s hand, using its shadow hands to cover up and heal his wound. 

Mr. Gene Collins covered his face in his left hand, Excalibur in his right. He coughed up blood into his hand. He took his bloodied hand and wiped it on jeans, staining them.

**“Gene, you know what to do, right?”**

“Fine, fine. We’ll do your plan.”

Immediately, Excalibur left Gene’s side and started swinging itself at the detectives. They were forced to back off, retreating further away from their target.

Gene dove out the window into the fire escape. He got his bearings and was met with three figures in the alleyway. He got even more frustrated. 

“Fuck! There’s more of you?!” He yelled at them.

~~~

“Lemon?” Octavia quietly asked.

The hand submerged in garbage grabbed the rusty edge of the dumpster. With another gasp for air, a now awoken Lemon exploded out of the smelly shit. 

“Fuck, I’m alive still?!” Lemon yelled. He noticed Octavia. “Oh. It’s you.”

Octavia gave him a very confused look. She had many questions on her mind but there was one that was prevailing much more than any others.

“What the hell are you doing here?!” Octavia shouted.

“Why do you keep interrupting my very much deserved sleep?!” He howled back.

80 hit both of them on the head. “Shut up! Gene could come out of that fucking building at any second now!”

“Who?” Lemon asked.

As if on cue, Gene dove out of the window connected to the fire exit. He looked down at all of them as if someone pissed on his food. 

“Fuck! There’s more of you?!” Gene barked.

Excalibur flew out of the window and into Gene’s right hand. He started running towards the railing on the fire exit and jumped off of it. The culprit raised the sword in the air, readying to cut someone.

“Who’s that--” Lemon said before being cut off. Literally. He was decapitated, his blood spurting all over the concrete. Lemon’s body fell to the floor.

“Now… who’s next?”


	9. Reversal

Chapter 9: Reversal

Octavia screamed. She fell backwards onto the floor, raising one of her hands as if motioning for this to stop. Lemon’s decapitated head lay in the dumpster he was just napping in. 

“Now… who's next?” Gene breathed. 

80 grabbed Octavia and teleported her to the other side of the alleyway, out of harm’s way. She then teleported Gene directly in front of her, trying to confuse him. 

The swordsman simply swatted 80 in the opposite direction of Octavia, down the concrete alleyway. 80’s breath was taken from her lungs as she felt the cold steel hit her skin. 

After a tumble and roll, 80 landed on her side, struggling to get herself standing. She was in terrible pain from the blow. Gene cracked a smile. All he had to do was threaten one of them as hostages and he could make his escape.

He pointed at Octavia. “You, blondie. Get over here.” She froze in fear. Gene started towards her. She was trying to push herself back, kicking the concrete to get away from him. 

She had never been more afraid.

“I said get over here!” Gene began to run. Octavia was telling herself this was it, she wouldn't make it. She would die here and that would be the end.

Except something happened that no one expected. Lemon’s corpse grabbed Gene’s ankle, stopping him in his tracks. The murderer looked down at it, confused.

It let go of Gene’s leg. Lemon’s headless body started to stand up. It stretched both of its arms back behind its torso. After a nice stretch, it walked to the dumpster that his head fell in and reached inside.

It managed to find the head and picked it up, then moving said head back on its neck. The flesh where the head and neck were severed seamlessly molded into the body looking just like it did before. Everyone was speechlessly watching this unfold. They all questioned their own sanity during this process.

“Fuck, I hate when that happens.” Lemon groaned. He walked up to Gene.

Gene just stared at him, mouth open. Lemon waved his hand in his face. “Anybody home?”

The killer backed off next to a wall in the alley. 

“What are you?!” He yelled. Gene’s breathing grew heavy.

“What am I?” Lemon repeated the question. “I'm pissed is what I am. You woke me up and then decapitated me! I should beat the shit outta--”

Lemon was instantly sliced in half horizontally. This time, however, his flesh pulled itself back together as soon as the cut was made. Lemon's face seemed very agitated.

“Listen man, I don't have infinite hoodies lying around and every time you cut me in half I have to sew it all back together later!” Lemon shouted.

“Shut up!” Gene bellowed. Lemon was sliced and diced to pieces over and over. Every time he was vivisected his limbs and body always contorted into being back together again. The scraps of his clothing started fall off.

“Motherfucker! Do you have any idea how hard it is to sew?!” Lemon howled. He charged towards Gene who sliced him vertically in half. Lemon's flesh simply came back together as he sprinted towards the target.

Lemon jumped up and kicked Gene in the nose, stunning him.

“Take that, you middle age crisis having fuck!” Lemon shouted as he began to pummel the already stunned Gene. Excalibur disconnected from Gene and tried to fight Lemon.

Excalibur’s shadow arms tried to grab Lemon, but his reflexes were too quick. Lemon grabbed the cloth like arms, and for the first time, Excalibur knew fear. He was spun around and thrown down into the ground, knocked out. 

“That's what you deserve, you poor excuse for a steak knife!” Lemon was breathing heavy. He noticed just across from him, looking pale, was Octavia.

“Lemon..?” Octavia nearly whispered. She wasn't sure what emotions she should be feeling. Was she sad that she just watched a friend of hers get cut to pieces? Or should she be happy that he was still alive and beat the target they needed to capture? She felt like a mixed bag of good and bad.

Lemon blushed for a second. “Ah fuck, this is awkward. Sorry for not telling you I'm immortal..? Shit, that sounds bad. Hahahahaha….” Heat was rising in Lemon's face.

Suddenly, 80 teleported next to Lemon and handcuffed Gene Collins. She then proceeded to throw a net that encapsulated Excalibur. She worked quickly and efficiently.

80 turned to Lemon. “Thanks for the help. I wasn't really looking forward to dancing with a giant blade.” 80 nodded.

Descending from the fire exit was Rusty, who was riding a flaming Staraptor. He landed on the ground and the bird disintegrated. Rusty walked to Lemon, all eyes on him. 

“Your name is?” Rusty asked.

“My name is Lemon.” He replied. 

“Now that myself and others have witnessed your ability of immortality, we can't just let you leave.” Rusty said coldly.

  
  


“No can do. I'm a lone wolf, don't like suckers like you that’d have trouble catching some lame ass like that!” He pointed at Gene with his thumb. 

“I'm sorry but we can't take no for an answer.” A flaming bird grew into shape on Rusty’s shoulder. It seemed much more threatening than any of the other birds he had created. 

“Why don't you make me?” Lemon tensed up.

“Guys! Please!” Octavia cut in. She was getting more and more anxious about this whole thing. Miles and Miyu watched from above on the fire exit. “We don't gain anything from fighting here!”

“Octavia, I'm trying to protect all of us, if we don't bring him in the government will be out for our heads.” Rusty said.

“Huh?” Lemon exclaimed. “Explain this to me in a way that makes sense, please, I'm not getting it.” 

“We, the Supernatural Detective Agency, are a government side project. If we, specifically, don't follow what they say, we will be killed. That's our reality, Octavia.” 

Lemon was confused. “Hold on, how the hell will they know if you disobeyed them here then?”

“They have a Gallade who is psychic locked to me, if I do something outside the parameters set, I will be killed and so will all of my friends.” Suddenly, things started to make sense for Octavia. No wonder they were so insistent on everything they did. 

Octavia turned to Lemon. His face was contorting into displeasure. He was being forced to make the choice of leaving here and losing one of his only acquaintances or going off into an environment he wasn't used to. Fuck. He knew the option he needed to choose.

“Fuck, fine! But I don't have to like it!” He said, complaining. The fiery bird disappeared into nothing. Octavia was finally able to relax.

~~~

The ride back was cramped, Miyu was driving while Rusty rode shotgun. Miles, 80, Octavia and Lemon all sat in the back. Gene and Excalibur were caught by arriving police forces and have been detained in a police station. 

Miles and 80 sat next to each other while Octavia and Lemon were opposite of them. 80 was teasing Miles, Octavia wasn't sure of what. She wasn't paying much attention after what had just occurred. 

“I'm telling you! Both does  _ not _ have an ‘L’ in it!” Miles barked.

“But everyone says it like bolth though.” she retorted with a smirk.

“Say it again! Right now! I dare you!” Miles yelled. The metal caps on his hands popped open.

“ _ B o l t h.”  _ 80 replied.

Miles put his hands together as if he was praying. He pressed them against his face and took in a very deep breath. 80 was having the time of her life at his frustration. He exhaled the breath.

He looked over at 80, eyes dead. “Adelaide Way, I won't hesitate.” He said. This caught Octavia's attention.

“Adelaide?” She asked.

80 spoke up. “My real name is Adelaide! But since it's so long I shortened it to 80! Much easier dontcha think?” She said cheerfully, as if she didn't just witness Lemon get cut to pieces and come back together.

“I mean I've heard the name Adelaide before, just never that nickname for one.” Octavia said.

“Guess I'm unique then!” She stated.

“I guess you are, then.” Octavia replied.

~~~

As soon as Octavia got back to the agency, she went straight to her tent in the training room. She was so exhausted and the only thing she had energy for was watching Ace be the cutest thing on the planet. 

With a flash he was let out of his pokeball onto the specially made floor of the training room. He immediately saluted Octavia, and her exhausted face grew into a small smile. She wished she could hug him, but he was a bit too sharp for his own good.

She also noticed that there was another tent being set up on the other side of the gargantuan room. Assuming that she got a tent when she started staying here, Lemon would be getting one, too.

Octavia put on the hose for Ace again, he frolicked and played in the water much to the pleasure of his trainer. She just sat and sprayed Ace, who loved every second of being squirted with water.

Eventually, Octavia's mind seemed to just drift away into her thoughts and memories. She had some very scary experiences from earlier in her life, but she's never quite experienced something like that. Her mind recollected the detail from Lemon getting his head cut off.

She began to dissociate with reality and relived the moment that occurred earlier today, until Ace made a cute squeaky noise at her. She snapped out of it.

Ace waddled up to her and waved his arms up at her. She loved every second of him. She wanted so badly to hug him but she knew that her body would not be a fan. 

“Hey Ace, let's get to bed, okay?” Octavia quietly suggested. 

Ace replied by saluting her. His metal limbs clacked together. God, he was adorable. Octavia led him to the tent, where he sat down. She turned the lamp inside her tent on. She told him to wait there while she turned the lights in the room off.

After a quick trip across the training room, she turned the lights off. She almost forgot how dark it got in there when all the lights were off. It was no different than being outside, in her opinion. 

She zipped open her tent, stepped in, and zipped it closed. She leaned down and patted the head of the sitting Pawniard. He squeaked. Her heart exploded with love for him.

After a quick change into jammies, she laid down in her futon, getting comfy. She leaned over and turned off the lamp. She leaned back and laid fully in bed, sleeping on her side, facing Ace.

Octavia shut her eyes and her mind drifted off. She began her much needed rest.


	10. Frequency

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long, plague's been messing with me

Octavia took a sip of her hot coffee. She was watching the cars go by in Joltin Jo’s. Her mind was filled with so much, she didn’t know what to do with it. Cars went by, people doing their own business.

She wondered what kinds of things every driver was doing. What were their worries? Where were they going? These kinds of questions flooded her mind. Eventually she began to dissociate from it all, staring off into space.

“Hey.” A familiar voice said.

Octavia nearly spit out her coffee in surprise. Sitting across from her was her boss, Rusty. He had a serious look on his face. Her mind was sure that he was upset with her performance on the mission.

Rusty looked over to the street. “About the mission..”

“--I’m sorry!” Octavia cut in. Rusty’s eyes widened a bit. His face changed into a light smile, placing his hand on his cheek and leaning on it.

“What do you mean ‘sorry’? It is extremely nerve wracking to go on one of those missions for the first time. Not dying, as far as I’m concerned, is a success. You did well.” 

Octavia was confused. “But.. I wasn’t helpful. I can’t even control my own ability yet.”

“That’s why I came here. I want to help cultivate your talent into a league of its own. Otherwise, it might be harder to survive those missions.” Rusty ended it with a serious tone.

“..So, how do I do that..?” Octavia asked. She felt a bit bad asking.

“Well.. someone outside of our group of detectives has a very similar ability to you. She’s a very experienced fighter and without a doubt would be a very helpful resource for your own growth in combat, as well as being a detective.”

Octavia could practically feel the ‘but’ coming. “But?”

“However.. due to certain experiences on the field, she simply won’t use her ability anymore. Which is unfortunate because her combat prowess is quite the thing to behold…” Rusty’s face seemed to lighten the more he talked of her. Octavia thought that maybe Rusty is close with her.

There was definitely something he wanted her to do about this. She could smell the awkward task being shoved on her.

“So?”

“So, I want you to go find her in our office, talk to her, and convince her to help you develop your ability. Should be simple enough.”

“What’s her name?”

“Her name is Roxanne O’Hara. She has dyed teal hair as well as a giant scar on her right cheek. You’ll know her when you see her.”

For some reason, Octavia felt like it wouldn’t be that simple. She took another sip of her coffee, finishing it off.

“Is that all?” Octavia asked.

“Yeah, that’s all.” Rusty stood up. “I will leave you to it, then. Good luck!” He waved at her as he walked back upstairs.

~~~

Octavia awkwardly walked into the office, looking around for the blue haired woman. After a few seconds of looking around, she noticed a girl in the corner of the office, completely opposite of where Rusty sat. 

She had wavy teal hair that was shaved on the left side of her head, she was so punk rock that Octavia was scared to approach her. Her lipstick was also a nice teal sheen. The closer Octavia got to her desk the more things she noticed on her body, be it piercings or little body modifications. 

Roxanne had a black industrial piercing on both ears, as well as two diamond studs. Her face seemed to give off a ‘fuck off’ kind of feel. Octavia felt that it was no wonder Rusty sent her to talk with her. He obviously didn’t want to do it himself.

The punk rock girl noticed Octavia approaching her. Octavia’s muscles tensed up as Roxanne looked straight at her. 

“What do you want?” She spat. Octavia was frozen.

“Rusty told me to talk to you..”

“Ugh.. what is it this time? He really can’t talk to me himself?”

“No, it’s about me actually.. He wants you to help me develop my aura ability, saying something like we have similar abilities. Something along those lines.” Octavia was trying to calculate what to say but words were not agreeing with her.

Roxanne was silent for a moment thinking about what Octavia had just said. There was silence for long enough that Octavia was starting to get anxious.

“You.” Roxanne’s voice was commanding.

“Yeah?”

“What’s your name?”

“Oh, my name is Octavia Aldark. I’m new to the SDA, Nice to meet you.” Octavia did a small little bow purely on instinct.

“New, huh..? Well, it’s not the first time he sent someone who’s new to go talk to me. But this is a surprise, he wants me to coach now? What a pain.” Roxanne stretched her arms behind her back. She stood up. “You can call me Roxy.”

Roxy started to walk towards the exit of the office. She kept her hands relaxed behind her head. Octavia was left staring at her. Roxy turned around when she realized Octavia wasn't following right behind her.

“What are you doing? Come on. You said some coaching bullshit, right? Let's get this over with.”

“O-oh, yeah!” Octavia jogged to catch up with Roxy as they headed for the training room. 

~~~

“ _ This  _ is where you stay?” Roxy said, almost disgusted. They were right outside of Octavia's tent in the giant training room. 

“Well, yeah. There's nowhere else to stay, so… It's all I've got.” 

“Well, I guess it's functional at least.” Roxy motioned for Octavia. “Come on, let's get away from your tent, so we don't fuck it up.” At this, Octavia was a bit concerned. How much of a mess would this cause?

Out of the corner of Octavia’s eye, she noticed Lemon coming out of his tent. He too, took note of them.

“Oh, it’s that blonde chick. What’s up?!” He yelled across the training room. He started towards them.

“The hell you guys doin’ down here?” Lemon asked once he got to the girls.

“Using the training room the way it was used before it became a motel-- for training.” Roxy replied. “What’s your name?”

“Just call me Lemon.” He replied.

“Weird name. Wanna join us or something? I’m sure you’d make the perfect dummy for this one to get her shit together on. Or something.”

“Pff, no way. I’m gonna go back to bed, thank you very much--” Roxy’s face turned deathly. That was enough convincing for Lemon to stay and help.

“You know what? I changed my mind. I’ll help you guys.” Lemon said. 

Roxy laughed. “Great! Now.. let’s begin.”

Octavia felt this would be a long training session.

~~~

“And you won’t fail this mission?” A deep, raspy voice asked. The owner of this voice held his hands together, and a sick smile strewn across his face. His white gloves were made from Altaria’s cloud cotton. A sign of wealth in the upper echelons of Nivalhiemian society.

“Sir, you know I don’t fail heists. Not once.” A man who went by the alias of Diamond said. He was checking his equipment. He made sure every smoke grenade was ready to blow. Every bullet was in place. Perfect.

“Your next target is the Grand Feltorn Casino. There’s a very expensive item there that the Heyline Mafia is trying to keep safe. They, for some reason, are thinking that the safest place for an item like that is in plain sight.” The boss took another puff from his cigar. “Go prove them wrong.. Jack.”

Jack’s smile grew. 

“Yes sir.”


	11. Atop A Skyscraper

Chapter 11: Atop A Skyscraper

He felt like a failure. He knew of the Steelix incident, and how his trainer got hurt. He saw it all from his pokeball. Ace wanted to help her but he knew that he would just be a burden against such a giant creature.

A Steelix would smack the small pokemon into a smush of scrap. Ace shuddered at this thought.

A scuffling within the tent woke up the metal Pokemon. He looked up and saw his trainer leave the tent early. 

What?

He lifted himself up and waddled to outside the tent. Ace watched Octavia walk until she had already left the training room. He was very confused.

Where is Master Trainer going? I must follow her and make sure she’s safe. He thought to himself.

He walked all the way to the doorway where Octavia disappeared up the stairs. Fuck. Stairs, Ace’s worst enemy. He always had trouble going up and down stairs. 

Ace stabbed a stair and tried to pull himself up. He got a stair up before the blades on his chest kept him from crawling further. Not expecting this, he slid down and fell on his face. After a few seconds of shock from falling down a couple stairs, he tried yet again to climb the towering staircase.

After trying and failing a few times, Ace knew he couldn’t keep this going. He needed to catch up to his trainer! But he couldn’t climb stairs. Anxiety was growing in him.

Wait, what about the other person down here? Maybe he could help me up.

Ace ran towards the tent closer to the doorway with his hands behind his back. He felt like a ninja.

Once he arrived at the tent, he looked for an entrance, but realized there was none. He felt like this too was in his way. He immediately cut open a hole in the tent. He jumped through the hole and started smacking his knife-like hands together, making a clicking noise.

“Wh--Wha?” Lemon said, hardly awake. He turned on a lamp next to his futon, revealing Ace.

“You’re that chick’s pawniard right? What the hell’re you doin’ in here??” 

He pointed up at the exit with his hand. He seemed panicky to Lemon.

“What?? I can’t understand you.” He was confused as all fuck. The pawniard got very frustrated and facepalmed with a knife hand. He walked to the hole he had created and motioned Lemon to come with.

“You want me to follow you?” 

Finally! He understood! Ace decided maybe he would be more useful than originally anticipated. Ace left the tent, hoping Lemon would follow.

“Hey! Where are you going?! Don’t just cut up my tent and leave me, you overgrown knife!” Lemon yelled, chasing Ace.

They arrived at the stairs. Ace pointed up at the top. He hopped a bit, trying to express his need to get to the top of the stairs.

“You wanna get up there?” Lemon asked.

Ace nodded furiously. This was going better than expected.

“Why don’t you just climb up then?”

Ace pointed his knife at Lemon’s feet. After many times of seeing Octavia stub her toes, he knew how painful injuring the foot would be.

“Fuck, fine. I’ll help you up.”

Lemon grabbed in between the blades on his small torso. He was being carried like a purrloin up the stairs. Ace was very content with this, while Lemon was not.  
~~~

After much searching, Ace and Lemon had found their way to the cafe, where Octavia was enjoying a cup of black coffee with 80 across the booth. As soon as Ace spotted her, he sprinted and hopped in front of her, trying to get her attention.

“Ace? What are you doing here?” Octavia asked.

Lemon was slowly following from behind Ace, just arriving at the scene. “You know, you should really take better care of your pokemon. He was all worried without you there.”

Octavia smiled. “Aw, I’m sorry little guy. Extra water fun later, okay?”

Ace cheered, raising his knives in the air, Octavia’s soft smile grew. 80 was surprised. “Octavia..”

Octavia moved her hair out of the way so she could see 80. “Yes?”

“That’s actually the first time you smiled since you got here! Wowie, so your pokemon makes you happy?”

Octavia didn’t realize she was smiling; she got a bit flustered. 

“R-really?? I never noticed.” She said shakily.

80 continued. “You should smile more often, Octy! After all, statistically speaking, people that smile more often than not tend to live longer!”

“Uh, yeah.” Octavia replied. 

“I don’t smile and I’ll outlive all of you chumplords!” Lemon laughed. 

80 stood up fiercely. “Not if I smile hard enough, bitch fruit!” She challenged Lemon. 

Lemon forced a very large smile on his face. He looked crazy. “Oh yeah?!”

“Yeah!” 80 replied.

Octavia was concerned at the sanity of those around her. But for some reason, she felt warm. She got confused at this feeling, she had never felt it before. Did she feel.. at home..?

She did. She held her hands to her chest, feeling the warmth spread through her torso. Silently, a small smile crept onto her face. She felt happy.

Lemon and 80 went silent, staring at her tiny grin. It took a second before Octavia noticed they were both looking at her.

80 cheered. “You did it again!”

Octavia secretly felt she wouldn’t get tired of these people.

~~~  
Hours later..

Grand Feltorn Casino. The Heyline Mafia’s pride and joy. Besides being a casino, it was also a hotel, with fancy restaurants serving the most delicious meals Yelp! had ever seen. Across where it lay, there was a skyscraper. And on that building was Jack.

“Alrighty, tonight’s the night. Claim the target and bring it back. Simple enough.” Jack muttered to himself. He always enjoyed the thrill of pulling off a successful heist. He, again, made sure that he had all his tools and equipment on him.

Below the building Jack stood, was a busy street lit with orange lights. A bustling city was alive right underneath him. And no one knew he was right above them, waiting to pounce.

He blew a puff of smoke in the air. His ability was perfect for jobs like this. Jack eyed the rooftop of the casino. He wanted to do a bit more ‘exploration’ over there. All he had to do was get to the other side of the street, on top of the building.

“Hmmm..” Maybe if he threw a smoke grenade hard enough… he could get to the roof of the casino! He made up his mind and decided he would throw the grenade. He stepped back a few steps, took a deep breath, and prepared himself.

He charged a few steps and launched a smoke grenade as hard as he could towards the casino. It flew until it landed on top of the casino. He silently cheered to himself.

Jack then used his ability to spew smoke right in front of him. A big enough cloud of gas that he could just jump into it. And that’s what he did.

Diving through the cloud of smoke, he was teleported to the roof of the casino. He rolled and landed perfectly on his feet; he could feel the cockiness getting to him.

“Piece of cake.”

He searched the rooftop for any forms of ventilation. After a couple minutes of looking around, he noticed a rusty shaft. He felt it would do just fine.

He leaned down to the vent shaft and blew smoke inside continuously, if he blew enough it would eventually reach a room. This tactic had yet to fail him.

After he felt he blew enough smoke into the shaft, he stood up and blew more right in front of him. Just a little cloud was enough for him to slip into. It was the perfect amount to send him throughout the gas, into a dark closet somewhere in the casino.

Damn.

Getting stuck in a small closet was not the most ideal situation, but he had to make do. He could hardly move, the darkness of the closet hindering his sight. 

He stumbled around in the closet, wondering what would be behind the door should he open it. Jack could hear talking coming from behind the door. He felt a bit more frustrated with where he was.

Ther person Jack could hear seemed to be getting closer.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll clean up that shit sir, who the fuck does he think he is?!” The voice said. 

A thought popped into Jack’s head. This was the janitorial closet. That guy was probably going for the closet he was in! He began to panic.

Suddenly, the door started to open. Just as quickly as the door opened, Jack pulled in the unknown janitor into his arms. The janitor’s scream was muffled by Jack’s hand covering his mouth.

“Sorry for taking you like this, but… I’ve always loved you…” Jack whispered to him. The janitor was just confused now. 

Jack kissed the janitor on the mouth harshly, secretly blowing smoke into his mouth. After a few seconds, he was completely knocked out. Jack simply let the janitor fall to the floor behind him.

“Sorry, you aren’t my type~” Jack said to the unconscious man. 

Jack opened the door of the closet. “Now… where is that treasure?”


	12. The Diamond

Chapter 12: The Diamond   
  
Hiding in the shadows of corridors, Jack made sure to avoid every single person he encountered. Flawlessly, he was able to make it deep inside the building. After running through the halls, he eventually made it to a balcony overlooking the main dining room.

He looked at the area, seeing many wearing fancy clothes and eating food that you couldn’t get at just any restaurant in the city. A woman was singing some jazzy song on a stage in the middle of the room. At this point, his fears had been confirmed.

The treasure he was seeking was a gem that lay in the main dining room. The gem was encased in a glass box that was in the middle of a staircase. One of those staircases that were overly grand. It split into two staircases on both sides of the room. Behind the staircase was a giant stained glass window. If he were to get this treasure, a scene would have to be made either way. If he were to just go in and take the target, he would be immediately arrested.

That’s what an amatuer would do. He, however, was not one of those. He was a man of integrity and also beauty. Such a measly obstacle could never keep him from doing his job. After all, he had yet to fail.

After thinking hard enough, he decided on what he would do. He climbed on top of the balcony’s rail. He looked over the crowd with immense pleasure. His heart was racing.  _ This _ was what he lived for. 

“Everyone!” The eyes of every person in the room shifted upon him. “I have come to grant you the show of your lifetime! I pray you will all remember it well! Now… let’s begin!” 

Jack threw two smoke grenades on opposite sides of the room. One landed in the middle of the entrance to the restaurant and the other landed next to the gem. The surprised cries of the crowd were the noises he desired more than life itself. He could already hear the security guards frantically trying to catch him and take him down. 

The thief leapt to the air, practically taking flight with the might of his jump. Jack landed on the hard brownish granite floor of the restaurant with style and flamboyancy. Through his mask, his smile kept growing. Security guards were now running towards him, coming from every direction. He simply laughed.

One guard came for him, attempting to tackle him. The guard in his suit was apprehended by Jack pulling him from his tie. The thief smiled wickedly, and literally blew the guard a kiss. Out from Jack’s mouth was a cloud of smoke that enveloped the guard’s face. He had no choice but to breathe in, and with that he was knocked unconscious. 

As strange as it sounded, Jack made sure his breath smelled superb before any mission. No guards could make fun of the way his smoke smells if he always smelled like a nice lavender.

“Get him!” Another guard yelled. He pulled out a taser and dove to electrocute Jack. Jack dipped beneath the arm he was extending with, then sprinted through an opening his enemy left. Jack jumped from table to table, wrecking everyone’s dinners. 

The guards really had no idea how to deal with him. They could only stare and stumble to chase after the man who clearly knew exactly what he was doing. 

Jack danced all the way to the area of the room opposite of the gem. He was now as far away as he could be from the treasure as possible. Well-- within that room, at least.

Instead of continuing his momentum, Jack simply sat next to the cloud of smoke that covered the entrance from one of the smoke grenades he threw earlier. He let the guards surround him. He had already heard this shit a thousand and one times.

“Don’t move!” “We have you completely surrounded!” “I’ve fought mud crabs more fearsome than you!” Over and over. 

“God, would you guys just shut up, already? You all sound like a broken record.” Jack complained, shaking his head. Jack looked at the clouds on each side of the room, making sure they both haven’t dissipated yet. And they have not. 

“Don’t move, I’ll shoot! Hands up!” A guard shouted at Jack. This specifically caught his attention. Jack smirked. 

Slowly, he raised his hands in the air. All seemed still for a few seconds. Jack pulled in a deep breath. This was the moment. The times in his life he lived for. All sorts of chemicals flowed through his brain. Euphoria.

“Cya.” Jack spoke, before trust-falling back into the smoke. In the instant he disappeared from sight, the cloud was shot apart by bullets, revealing that nothing was there. A frenzy thundered through the hall, wondering where Jack had gone.

“Search for him! Don’t let him get away!” One guard commanded towards all the others. 

Unbeknownst to all of them, Jack had made use of his ability, which allows him to teleport from one cloud of gas to another. It also allowed him to generate what he called “Sleep Smoke” from his lungs. A very useful ability indeed.

Jack had teleported from that cloud of smoke at the entrance to the cloud next to the treasure. With ease, he took the Gem. No alarms, nothing. Perfection. 

The thief took out smoke grenades, and flung them all over the room, to confuse everyone. In all the commotion, Jack made his getaway. With all the smoke around, the people had no idea what was going on. One of the guards even just sat down and accepted what was happening. He gave up.

With a laugh, Jack broke through a glass window, escaping the casino with the treasure. And not a single man could ever stop him.

~~~

“Hmm.” Rusty was disturbed at the news. His face slightly contorted in worry.

“What’s wrong, sir?” Miles asked. He was walking past Rusty’s desk with papers just then.

Rusty lifted his phone up so Miles could see what was on his screen. “I’ve just received word that a man with quote unquote ‘supernatural powers’, has stolen a valuable gem from a casino that was sponsored by our friends the Heyline Mafia. What do you think that means?”

Miles set down the papers on Rusty’s desk. “Hmmm… either someone is just a complete idiot.. or has the backing of someone very powerful. If he had that kind of backing, then that would mean… a gang war?!” Miles was taken aback. Rusty seemed pleased with his answer. 

“My thoughts exactly. We are probably going to be in for some rough times coming soon, Miles. Make sure you’re ready.” 

“Yes sir.” Miles replied. Before Miles could walk off, Rusty got his attention once again.

“Oh, and could you check up on Roxy and the others down in the training room for me, please? I want to know what kind of progress they’re making.” Rusty said with a soft and lazy voice.

“Right away, sir.” He replied, briskly walking off to his next task. 

Rusty sat there, staring at the nails on his hands. 

“I wonder how you’ll move next…” Rusty whispered to himself.

~~~

“So, tell me, what is your ability exactly?” Roxy asked. She and Octavia were downstairs in the training room.

On the side of the room, was Lemon and Ace, who were playing with each other while innocently watching the ‘training’. Occasionally, Ace would stand up tall and wave to Octavia.

“U-um, well.. I don’t know exactly-- I’ve only used it once and I wasn’t even conscious. It’s something like ‘another me’.” Octavia awkwardly stuttered out.

Roxy pinched her chin, thinking long and hard. “I see. Then you have no idea how to bring it out, correct?” Roxy’s hand dropped back down to her side.

“Yes, that’s correct.” Octavia replied.

“Then here, let’s try this.” Roxy suddenly started sprinting towards Octavia. Heat rose in Octavia’s face as her mind was scrambling to get into fight or flight mode. 

“What are yo--” Roxy punched Octavia right in the guts. Immediately, Octavia keeled over in pain. She vomited out her morning coffee, as well as other saliva. Roxy stood over the girl in displeasure.

Ace and Lemon cringed at the sight of Octavia being absolutely defeated.

Roxy yelled to Lemon. “Oi! Fruity Pebbles!”

“What do you want, edgy Mc-My-Chemical-Romance?!” 

“What’d you call me?!” Roxy’s face flared up in anger. Lemon might have been one to be aggressive, but he knew which fights he could win, and other fights he couldn’t win. This one, he would not be able to win.

“Nothing. What do you want?” Lemon said with defeat in his voice. Roxy’s face calmed back down.

“Go get Miyu, I have plans for Octavia here.” Roxy leaned over Octavia, poking Octavia with her foot, trying to make sure she was alive. She was still breathing. That was good, at least.

Lemon stood up with Ace trying to pull him along to go get Miyu. Ace resisted, pointing at Octavia. Lemon replied, saying “I know she’s hurt, that’s why we gotta go get Miyu, alright?”

Ace didn’t like the sound of that but gave up, and went along.

“Oi, you alive?” Roxy asked.

“Nooo..” Octavia replied. She turned over looking straight up at the oh so blinding lights hanging from the ceiling. She almost wondered if she had died on the spot.

“Alright, get up, we need to talk.” Roxy barked.

Octavia struggled to get onto her feet. After stumbling a few times, she managed to get up. 

“What next?” Octavia asked, wiping spit from her mouth. A sense of quiet resolve could be seen in Octavia’s eyes.

Roxy smiled at the sight. Maybe she would do better than anticipated, Roxy thought.

“I’ll be honest with you, Octavia. I was expecting you to give up after that punch.” Roxy half taunted.

“Well, I’m up. Now what?” She asked groggily. 

“Now, I ask you a couple questions. Did you feel any sort of specific energies flowing through your body?” Roxy asked.

“Other than pain and vomiting? No.” Octavia deadpanned.

“Alright then, I guess we'll just have to keep going like this. You ready for this?” Roxy got into a fighting stance. 

“Hardly.” Octavia replied, dead inside.

“Great let’s begin!” Roxy said as she began sprinting towards her. Roxy’s smile resembled that of a shark. She was clearly having fun with this. Octavia braced herself.

As Roxy got close, she front flipped and kicked Octavia with her right leg. Roxy was then blocked by both of Octavia’s arms guarding. Unfortunately for Octavia, she got kicked by Roxy’s other leg right in the chin. 

Roxy had used the leverage of Octavia’s arms and pulled her left leg up by pressing down her right leg. Octavia was sent stumbling back with now bloody lips. She held up her hand to her face, reeling from the pain.

“Come on!  **Octavia!** ” Roxy yelled with primal energy. Octavia pulled herself together and faced her opponent. Octavia studied Roxy. All signs pointed to Roxy being, clinically speaking, fucking crazy.

Octavia charged towards her opponent. She took her right arm and tried for a right hook straight to Roxy’s side. Roxy countered Octavia’s right hook by grabbing her arm, spinning her around a bit and launching her to the direction Octavia just came from.

This was completely one sided.  _ How much strength do you need to have to throw someone outright?! _ Octavia thought to herself. Octavia pushed herself off the ground, getting to her feet once again. She felt the need to continue this.

Octavia thought. There was no way she would be able to take Roxy head on, and there was no way to defend against her. She would have to be tricky here. Slowly, Octavia formed a plan in her head. 

After a lot of thinking, Octavia had decided on the best course of action. Once again, Octavia charged Roxy. This time, she went for a roundhouse kick with her right leg. This was quickly blocked and Octavia’s leg had been grabbed. All according to plan.

Octavia took her two hands and placed them on the ground. Then, using the leverage Roxy had given her by grabbing her leg, she brought up her other leg and landed a kick directly to Roxy’s face. Roxy made an audible grunt at the kick.

A surge of joy spread throughout Octavia. She landed a hit on Roxy! But something was wrong. Roxy had yet to let go of her leg. Octavia was stuck.

Through the doorway to the training room walked Lemon, who was followed by Ace, Miyu, and Miles. Funnily enough, they had arrived just in time for arguably the most painful experience this ‘training session’ had in store for Octavia.

Roxy suddenly grabbed Octavia’s other leg, too. Octavia panicked in response. She couldn’t move. 

“Roxy what are you doing?” Roxy looked down with a deathly face. Octavia’s instincts screamed in response.

“You kicked me.” Roxy said simply. 

“I’m sorry?” Octavia replied.

Lemon and the gallery were watching this all unfold.

“What are they doing over there?” Lemon commented. 

Roxy suddenly swung Octavia around in a circle like Roxy was participating in the sport of hammer throwing. Octavia’s blood all flowed to her head. She could see her life flashing before her eyes.

Roxy flung Octavia towards the gallery as hard as she could. Octavia landed directly on her face, but the momentum was not done with her yet. She kept rolling and flipping on the ground. Lemon and Ace cringed at how painful it looked.

After a few seconds full of pain, Octavia stopped rolling just at the feet of Lemon and Ace. She swore that she could see ‘the light’. 

Ace immediately poked Miyu in the ankle. He wanted Miyu to heal her ASAP. 

“Yes, yes, don’t get so worked up little Ace.” Miyu said to calm the little rascal.

Miyu leaned over and took away all the injuries that Roxy had given to Octavia. Still, Octavia was lying on the floor. 

“Alrighty, that was a good workout, thanks Octopus!” Roxy said as she walked past everyone. 

A strange silence filled the room with Roxy gone. Octavia sat up.

“God, why is she so strong?” Octavia complained.

Miles leaned over Octavia and spoke up. “She is our strongest member at this point in time. You’d do well to learn a thing from her.”

“..Yes sir..” Octavia muttered, exhausted.


	13. Cup of Joe

Chapter 13: Cup of Joe

Octavia sat in Joltin Jo’s, drinking her now favorite cup of coffee. She was in her favorite spot, too. Her favorite pastime had become people watching. She would watch over and over, the cars going by, the people that she couldn’t seem to quite understand. 

She immersed herself in it, losing track of time. She was so deep, in fact, that the only thing that removed her from this space was the ring of the bell of the doorway. Octavia looked around, and spotted a girl with black hair, but with two strands on both sides of her head dyed red. This struck Octavia as an odd hair color.

The new girl walked over to where Octavia was sitting and said “Hello! You’re actually in my favorite spot right now, do you mind if I just sit across from you?” She said cheerfully.

After a few seconds of silence, Octavia muttered “I don’t mind.”

Octavia turned and kept staring towards the street, trying to get back into the state of mind where she could be practically asleep. But this new girl kept distracting her with her soft smile. 

Joe walked over with pen and paper in hand. “What’d ya like today Catherine?” 

She smiled. “The usual, Joe.” Catherine replied. Her pale skin seemed to reflect the light from outside like a mirror. The yellow light from the sun partially made its way inside the coffee shop. It felt homey.

“Yes, ma’am! White chocolate mocha coming right up!” Joe said gleefully, walking off to behind the bar, preparing her drink. Catherine stared out the window with Octavia, a soft and gentle smile on her face.

Catherine looked over to Octavia. “I’ve never seen you here, before. Though, you like kinda familiar. What’s your name?” She asked.

“Oh, I’m Octavia.” She replied quietly. Immediately afterward, an awkward silence filled the space between them. The tension of not being very good at talking got to Octavia.

“Nice to meet you, Octavia! As you probably heard, I’m Catherine!” The strange haired girl said cheerfully. 

“Yeah.. Nice to meet you, too.” The blonde replied.

“So, what brings you here, Octavia?” 

“Oh, uhm, I recently moved in upstairs, and I like the coffee that Joe serves..” 

“So you’re not from around here, huh? Where did you move in from, then?”

“I.. used to live in Morning Grove, a suburb of this city. I moved here for a better job opportunity than what I would’ve gotten out there.”

“Ah, I see. I’ve lived here my whole life, so, I know where everything is.”

“Huh, I could never imagine being brought up in such an environment… It must be confusing.” 

“It’s not that bad, there are tons of delicious restaurants nearby that you wouldn’t get out there in the burbs!” 

Octavia was confused. “The burbs?”

“Oh! It means ‘suburbs,’ sorry.”

“I see.” Octavia said. 

Joe came around, holding Catherine’s mocha. He walked over to where the two girls sat, setting down her sweet smelling coffee. Octavia was never one for sweets. But it smelled just so good.

Catherine picked up her mocha and took a sip, then flinched because she forgot it was hot. After a bit she cautiously sipped more. Octavia accidentally let herself stare at the coffee in curiosity. Catherine noticed.

“Heh, you want some?” Catherine offered Octavia.

“Yes please.” Octavia replied.

“Here you go! Try not to drink too much.” Catherine generously handed the mocha to Octavia. 

Octavia took the mocha and poured a light amount into her mouth. It tasted like coffee, but sweet. It had a nice whole feeling when it went down her throat. She wanted more. Octavia didn’t realize it, but stars had appeared in her eyes. What she had thought as heresy for all her life had shown her a light she never realized.

Catherine watched this and felt a sort of happiness. Showing people new things was always fun. And this country bumpkin didn’t seem to know much about just how great this city is.

“Hey Octavia!” Catherine caught the girl’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“Does Morning Grove have any arcades?” Catherine asked excitedly.

“Ah, no. The most fun thing Morning Grove had was its parks.” Octavia said looking to the side.

“Damn, that sucks… Wait!” Catherine almost jumped out of her seat, and startled Octavia.

“Huh?” Octavia was confused.

“Have you ever been to an arcade?!” Catherine slammed the table.

“...No.” Octavia replied. Catherine gasped.

Catherine slammed the table. “Alright, Octavia von Mocha, you’ve convinced me! We must go to an arcade!” Catherine declares to Octavia. Octavia felt concerned at this statement.

Catherine stood up and grabbed Octavia. Octavia could only let out a quiet “Oh” as she was soon pulled away by the energetic girl. Catherine dragged her outside.

Octavia was now outside. It was a nice sunny day with a beautiful blue sky shining down on the girls. A few pidoves flew above them, casting shadows down onto the grey pavement of the ground. 

A realization struck Octavia. How were they going to get there?

“Wait, so how are we getting there?” Octavia asked. Catherine mischievously smirked and whipped out a Pokeball. 

“I’m glad you asked!” Catherine throws her Pokeball and after a bright light a massive Arcanine appears. It was just as tall as Octavia. She let out a squeak and almost fell over when it came out right in front of her. The only times she’s seen one before was when she saw police officers in morning grove.

The Arcanine excitedly jumped up and hugged Catherine, and she hugged the mighty Pokemon back. Catherine was obviously enthusiastic to see her, too. “Hi there little Maya! Who’s a good puppy? Yes you are! Yes you are!”

Maya the Arcanine smiled and panted gleefully as she was being pet by her trainer, Catherine. Catherine eventually stopped petting her pup and turned toward Octavia. 

“This puppy is how we’re getting there.” Catherine said, smiling ear to ear. Octavia was concerned, but at this point, she's given up. Catherine looked back to Maya and flung herself over and on top of the dog. She was riding her like a horse.

Catherine stuck out her hand to Octavia.

“You coming?” Catherine said. Her brown eyes were glimmering in the summer sunshine. Her wavy hair was being picked up and carried by a gust of wind. The pale skin that covered her body seemed almost immaculate untouche--

“Octavia? You getting on or not?” Catherine asked. Octavia shook herself out of thought, and grabbed Catherine’s hand. 

With a heave, she was pulled up onto the Arcanine, right behind Catherine. Octavia fit snugly on the Arcanine’s back. Unbeknownst to Octavia, Catherine grinned an evil grin. She was plotting something.

“Oh and.. hold on tight to me, alright?” Catherine recommended to Octavia. Fear crept back into Octavia's body.

“Huh?” Octavia let out.

“Maya, yip yip!” As soon as Catherine spoke those words, Maya was in overdrive. She immediately started sprinting across the pavement towards whatever destination Catherine desired. Octavia felt a force pull her back, and the only way she was able to stay on was by wrapping her arms around Catherine and holding on as tight as possible. Catherine was enjoying the ride; she was an expert at this. She held onto the mane of the Arcanine and wrapped it around her hands, so she could get a better grip.

Catherine shifted her hands to the right, so the Arcanine would know to turn right. A swift right turn later and Octavia would still be holding on for dear fucking life. At this point, Octavia was really starting to worry about falling off.

Hell, if she fell off, she might break her ass. She started to worry about ass insurance. Ass safety is a really important part of life and she has never even seen an ass insurance agent. What was she to do if she fell on her ass? Cry? Yeah.

Octavia started to think, has Catherine ever worried about falling off her Arcanine? She must need some ass insurance herself, it's a dangerous world out here. Catherine’s ass-- No.

Octavia was huddled up against Catherine with her eyes closed. Catherine looked back and noticed this.

“Hey Octavia!” Catherine yelled as they sped down street from street. Pedestrians were bewildered as the giant Pokémon sprinted through the sidewalk.

“Yeah?” Octavia replied quietly, still holding Catherine close.

“Open your eyes! The city is much more beautiful when you have your eyes open!” Catherine yelled.

“But--”

“Come on! Just do it!” She commanded.

Octavia lifted herself up a bit instead of leaning into Catherine's back. She slowly opened her eyes to the city of Zuheimer. In the distance she could see a clear blue sky, and she was surrounded by buildings, man made structures that reached to the heavens. As she zipped around while riding the Arcanine, she spotted various small Pokémon. Such as some starly who were picking up and eating seeds spread by an old lady. 

They quickly passed by an alleyway, where Octavia caught a glimpse of a few trubbish cuddling with each other. The city was alive and brimming with elements both Pokémon and human. 

“Isn't it beautiful Octavia?” Catherine asked.

“Yeah..” Octavia stuttered. She never realized that the city was so.. gorgeous. She could understand how Catherine likes it here so much. 

~~~

“We’re here!” Catherine exclaimed. Octavia was still trying to get her organs back in place from the ride. After settling her stomach, Octavia looked up to the arcade which had shiny blue and white lighting. The bright lights practically drew her in like a moth to a flame.

“Wow. It's so bright..” Octavia marveled.

“Yeah, this entire place is like this. Bright neon lights all over the place.” Catherine turned to her Arcanine. “Thanks for taking us here, Maya. I love you so so so so soooo much!” The Arcanine was happy to be of service to her trainer. 

“So, how does this place work?” Octavia asked, falling off the Arcanine and onto her ass, Catherine laughed. She knew she should've gotten ass insurance. As she was reeling from the pain of falling on her tush, Catherine offered her a hand up. Octavia looked up and her eyes met Catherine's brown eyes again.

“You okay?” Catherine asked while giggling. 

“Yeah, heh. Didn't see the ground there. Like, woah! Haha..” Octavia awkwardly tried to make a comedy. Catherine giggled a little bit. The joke Octavia tried to land landed in a river sideways. Despite her joke being a total failure, she was having fun. 

“I think that's the first time I've seen you smile, Octavia.” Catherine said, moving part of her hair behind her ear with her hand. Octavia didn't realize she was smiling. That was the second time this has happened recently. Once with Lemon and 80, now with Catherine. Maybe hanging out with others wasn't so bad. 

“Hey, I can smile whenever I want! See! Watch!” Octavia smiled as hard as she could making a deranged looking face, where her lips reached from ear to ear. This made Catherine laugh. Octavia could get used to this. 

After a bit more of joking around, Octavia and Catherine finally decided to make their way inside the arcade. Octavia was enjoying herself.

~~~

“Wait, so how does this work?” Octavia asked innocently. Catherine moved closer to the machine and right next to Octavia. Catherine was tall for a member of the female species, but still not as tall as Octavia. Octavia couldn't take her eyes off the Pawniard plush in the machine. 

“Alright so basically, this joystick here controls the movements of the claw in the machine. And the button next to the joystick decides-- wait I didn't word that right.” Catherine said.

“You okay?” Octavia asked.

“Yeah just give me a moment. I need to decide how to form this explanation in my thoughts.” After a few seconds of thinking with her hand on her noggin, she finally spoke. “Okay, so the functions of this button are that when pressed, the claw descends and closes its grasp at its lowest point. Using this, we can grab one of the many very adorable plushies in here. If the claw grabs a plushie, it picks it up and drops it off in the bin you see on the left here.” Catherine pointed to the bin she had mentioned.

“...” Octavia was speechless. 

“What?” Catherine was getting a bit concerned.

“I-- hmmm.” 

“What? Did I say something wrong?” Catherine’s anxiety grew. 

“No, it's just.. you could've said the claw moves down and grabs.” Octavia said. Catherine was flustered.

“Y-yeah well, I just have issues organizing my thoughts sometimes!” Catherine tried to justify herself, but it only made Octavia giggle more. 

Octavia then attempted the machine that Catherine desperately explained to her. Octavia’s first attempt ended with the claw’s grasp completely empty; she failed. With a new sense of determination from her first failure, she went and failed again, but this time with vigor. 

Attempt after attempt, she only kept failing. Octavia grew slightly frustrated. Finally she mustered all her strength, willpower, determination and lastly, the power of friendship all into her hand. She thought of her friends. 80… Ace… Octavia decided she absolutely would not fail. 

She caught a Shinx instead of the Pawniard she wanted. Octavia snapped. Before Octavia could unleash her infernal rage, Catherine patted her on the back.

“Hey, let me take a shot at this, country girl. You're going for the Pawniard, right?” Catherine asked. Octavia nodded. In an instant, Catherine expertly maneuvered the claw into the perfect position. She slapped the button and the claw dove down. It grasped the Pawniard plush and Octavia watched this all in shock. 

The little Pawniard plush fell down the bin and Catherine picked it up. Catherine turned to Octavia. “Here. This is for you.” 

Octavia had stars in her eyes at the plushy and at Catherine. This girl gave her a Pawniard plush. This was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for her. Her years of torment with her foster family showed her no kindness. But this girl she just met today has shown her so much. 

“Octavia? Are you okay?”

“Huh?”

“You're crying..” Catherine pointed out.

“Eh?” Octavia lifted a hand to her face and felt warm tears running down. “Oh! Um sorry, I got a little emotional. That was one of the nicest things someone has ever done for me.” 

“I just gave you a plush..” Catherine was worried for her new friend. 

“Never had the best childhood, but besides that, what game should we play next?” Octavia asked.

Catherine noticed the switch of topics. She felt bad that Octavia had to deal with those emotions. But if she could make her smile again, both Octavia and herself would be much happier!

“Ah, interested in more games huh?” 

“Well yeah, I've never been in an arcade before and it seems pretty fun. So what's up next on the agenda?”

Catherine smirked. “I'm glad you asked. The next game we're gonna play is known as DDR.”

“DDR?” 

“Drugs Dance Revolution. It was made by some guy who really hated our capitalist society supposedly. But then his brother stole the design and the original guy died of a drug OD. As weird as the name is, it's a really fun game.”

“So where is it?”

“Here lemme show you!” Catherine pulled Octavia by her arm across the arcade.

~~~

“Here it is!” Catherine exclaimed. In front of them was a big screen. In front of the big screen were two platforms and on the back of the platforms were a railing. On the platforms there were four buttons, each with arrows on them.

“This is Drugs Dance Revolution?” Octavia asked.

“It sure is! Now watch and learn!” Catherine hopped onto the platform. She made her way through the menu and clicked a song named “Rivers in the Desert” 

The song began to play, and arrows appeared on the screen, showing the buttons on the platform Catherine needed to step on. It began with a heavy guitar, playing slowly. The timing of buttons she had to press reflected the tempo of the song. And then, the lyrics began.

“  
It's now or never and I've got to make my decision. This time it could be my moment.  
Is this a mirage or a chance to fulfill my mission?  
“

Catherine easily kept with the tempo. It looked easy to Octavia. If this was all the game had, it was a wonder why the game got popular--

“  
A river in a dry land!  
The last ace in a lost hand!  
A heartbeat for a tin man!  
Oasis in a singed land!  
“

It no longer looked easy to Octavia, it actually looked very hard. Catherine had to hit multiple buttons at the same time. How do you even do that??

“  
I'm keeping my balance but I'm standing, on razors’ edge now.  
Move quick or my life is over.  
One strike, just a feint, then.. I'm outta his field of vision.  
Don't ask why I'm ready, but I'm ready to strike him down now.  
A chance at a new start, there's no time for indecision.   
“

The song had calmed back down, though the difficulty of the game was static. Octavia was extremely impressed with Catherine. Octavia could see a bead of sweat fall down the side of Catherine's face. The music was about to reach its climax, Octavia could tell.

“  
A river in a dry land!   
The last ace in a lost hand!  
When the hope of new beginnings burned our feet, now we need it!  
A heartbeat for a tin man!  
Oasis in a singed land!  
Remind us what we're here for!  
Creating new life!  
Creating rivers in the desert!  
“

The song came to a close, and Catherine stopped dancing. Octavia was extremely impressed. The last part of the song went as she could only define it as ‘sicko mode’.

“How was that?” Catherine asked, panting. She seemed very exhausted.

“Incredible. Are you alright after that? That looked like it took a lot out of you..” Octavia questioned, concerned. 

“Yeah, I'm fine, I think--” Catherine began to fall over. Octavia immediately tried to dive to catch her but she wasn't close enough. But where Octavia could not reach, her twin could. And did.

Octavia’s twin shot out of her, catching Catherine. Catherine was safe in Octavia’s twin’s arms. Octavia was relieved. She stood back up after trying to catch Catherine.

“Hey, are you okay?” Octavia asked. Catherine's eyes were half open.

“Octavia..? Why are there two of you..?” Catherine asked groggily.

“Oh uhhhh.. that will take some explaining..” Octavia replied. Catherine slowly made her way out of Octavia's twin’s arms and back to standing upright.

“I must have hit my head, because that other um.. ‘you’ isn't disappearing.”

“Oh no, that other me is most definitely real.” Octavia told her.

“Wait… you have an aura ability?” Catherine asked.

“You know what those are?”

“Obviously, everyone in Zuheimer and their mom knows what aura abilities are! Wait, so why aren't you jailed? Not like saying you should be, just curious.”

“Um, uh. I'm kind of.. working for the city I guess???” Octavia had never felt this awkward in her life until right now.

“Ohhhh, so you work with Rusty! That's why you were at Joltin Jo’s!” Catherine exclaimed.

“Yeah.. I work for him.. wait. How do you know about Rusty?”

“Oh, I usually spend a lot of time at that shop, it's my favorite place. I noticed everyone constantly going up and coming down the stairs. I got to know the people that live there. It's so cool that you work for them!” 

Octavia felt relieved. She thought Catherine would've gotten mad. Thank goodness she didn't. Octavia doesn't know how to deal with people regularly, much less when they're mad at you for hiding the fact you're a magic outlaw that works for the government. Hate when that happens.

After spending more time chatting, the duo decides they should go home. Catherine literally almost passed out just earlier so it would be a good time to call it quits.

The second time around for riding Maya wasn't as bad. Octavia didn't realize how much time they spent there. The sun had already gone down, and the sky was a nice shade of twilight. Octavia learned to appreciate the nice breeze when riding Maya and the beauty of the city. She could even see a few noctowls flying around.

Octavia was happy. 

~~~

“See ya later, Octavia! I'll share my mocha with you again.” Catherine told her.

“I'd be glad to drink it. Stay safe out there.” Octavia replied.

Catherine turned around and left the coffee shop with a sense of happiness. She hadn't felt that nice in a while.

Octavia held onto her new pawniard plush. She took a look at it and hugged it into her chest. It was so. Fucking. Soft. Octavia thought about how her day had gone.

She loved today. It was great. Ten out of nine. And she couldn't wait to have more days like this.

“Alright! Off to bed!”


	14. Small

Chapter 14: Small

Once, I dreamed I was human. I forgot myself and knew only my happiness as a human. Soon, I awoke, and I was myself again. Did I dream that I was a human? Or do I now dream that I am a Pokémon? Yet, there is a distinction between myself and the human. This is the transformation of the physical. Sometimes I wish I were human. I could protect Octavia with ease then, instead of in this clunky, stabby form. 

My name is Ace. I was found in a forest by Octavia near Morning Grove. She found me young and weak. I had lost my parents at birth, but she found me. She is the one who cared for me.

I remember her coming to the hollow tree I stayed at, looking sad. But when she saw me, her face turned into a smile! After months of knowing her, I learned that she had no parents, too. She was just like me. 

I no longer felt so alone. 

But so many dangers have threatened her life. Am I good enough to save her? I don’t know. 

I need to be stronger. 

Recently, Octavia almost died twice. And I was useless about it all… If it weren't for Miyu, Octavia would have lost her life. I couldn't help my master. That Steelix could have crushed her so easily, and I could not do anything. 

Or how about Gene and Excalibur? I couldn't save her then either. She had to watch her friend get his head cut off and I was… useless. 

* * *

Octavia took a sip of her mocha. She quite liked the taste of it, and was very grateful to Catherine for showing her this sweet elixir. 

She sat in her favorite spot at Joltin’ Joe’s, watching people go by on the busy street. The mocha was sweet and delicious. She then noticed a few starly fly by the window; they landed on the ground next to some crumbs of food. They pecked at the crumbs with their tiny little pecker doo dads. She saw a small family in these starly. They were brothers and sisters.

“Hey, you okie dokie?” 80 asked Octavia, surprising her with her sudden appearance. 

Octavia almost spat out her mocha. She was then sent into a coughing fit. “80! I didn’t see you there..”

“Well of course you didn’t, I snuck up on you after all.” 80 told her casually, shrugging her shoulders. Octavia was confused.

“Why did you sneak up on me?” Octavia asked 80.

“Well, we don’t know each other too well just yet so I thought it would be beneficial to see you in your natural habitat all by yourself. That being always sipping coffee at the diner in Jo Jo’s.”

“Jo Jo’s?”

“Joltin Joe’s, Jo Jo’s, shortened name for ez saying!” 80 told her cheerfully. 80 jumped into the seat across from her. She sat there smiling and moving her head back and forth. She was a ball of pure energy.

“Why are you so happy, 80?” Octavia asked curiously. 80 paused her head rocking.

“Well, I guess it’s because we have two whole new recruits! We aura ability detectives.. We come and go in this line of work. Much like the brass squad, we’re the ones sent on suicide missions. Not everyone makes it back..” 80 clenched her hands. “ I guess that with two new recruits.. and one of them being actually immortal.. I’m happy that I have new friends!” 

Octavia was hit by this. How much suffering have the detectives been through? “80.. how much have you all been through?” Octavia asked quietly.

80 hesitated. “I.. I don’t want to answer that..” she murmured. “Maybe one day just... not now.”

“Alright, I understand.”

“Um.. speaking of new recruits, let’s go check on Lemon, kk?”

Octavia realized 80 said that to distract from that small bit of sadness she just had. 80 was in a happy mood and didn't want it ruined by some depresso espresso memories. “Alright, let’s go check on him.”

80 stood up and stretched her limbs out. Her fluffy brown hair swung back and forth with her aggressive stretching. It looked very soft to touch. She wanted to see just how true that was.

“Octy, you coming?” 80 asked.

“Oh! Yeah, gimme a second.” 

* * *

The pair walked down the stairs to the training room, and there they saw a certain pawniard sparring with Lemon. Ace was sending quick jabs at Lemon but Lemon would dodge each and every attack. For someone who doesn’t need to worry about being hit, he was better at dodging than most would think.

Just as Octavia was thinking that, Ace stabbed Lemon’s ankle. Lemon fell over with an “Ah fuck!” and submitted to Ace. Ace made a victory pose. He was victorious, full of victory. Victory was his name and game at the same time. 

Octavia smiled, clapping for her companion. 80 cheered. “Nice job Ace! You got him right where it matters!”

Ace turned to see his master and immediately started sprinting towards her. He arrived to her feet and saluted while Lemon was still groveling from his ankle being executed. 

“Hello everyone. What’s going on here?” A new voice appeared. Everyone turned to see Rusty, their commanding officer. 

Lemon spoke up. “Oh, Rusty— I mean sir, me and Ace were hanging out and he decided he wanted to be trained by me because I can take a hit from him.”

“Hmm.” Rusty knelt down to the little man. He held out his hand to him, with a spark in his eye. Ace recognized his commanding officer’s commanding officer and saluted. 

Rusty smiled. “I think I can help.” He told her.

“You can?” Octavia asked. 

“Yes, I can.” He said, standing up. “I know someone who can teach your pawniard— Ace, was it? some special moves that would help in our line of work. Now, come with me.” Rusty said. 

Octavia stepped forward. 

“Ah ah ah, not you.” Rusty replied to Octavia’s movement. “You.” He pointed at Ace. 

“Don’t worry, I will take care of your pawniard for just a day. And he will be back much more powerful.” 

Octavia was nervous for her little dude bro but on the other hand, the most powerful person she knows would be helping him. That relieved her a little bit. 

“Where will you be taking him?” Octavia asked.

“Yeah, I’m curious too.” Lemon said, blood oozing from his ankle. 

Rusty gave a mischievous smirk. “That would ruin the surprise.”

80 patted Octavia’s back. “Not to worry Octy Pokki! Our commander will take great care of little Ace.” For some reason, 80’s words of encouragement relieved her completely of all worry. 

Ace felt excited for this, he had worked out with Octavia for many years but he never really felt like he properly trained or had an ‘upgrade’ of any kind. 

Rusty motioned for Ace to follow him, and to that he obliged. “Come, little Ace. Let me help you.”

And with that, both Ace and Rusty left the training room. 

* * *

“Have you ever been in a vehicle like this, Ace?” Rusty asked. Rusty sat in the front seat of the van, with Ace in shotgun. Rusty had to put Ace’s seatbelt on for him since he had no hands. Ace responded by clacking his knives together. 

“Hmm, a language barrier.” Rusty sat and thought for a moment, while driving down the streets of Zuheimer. “I have an idea.” Ace tilted his head in curiosity. 

“When I ask a question, one click means no, two clicks means yes. Does that sound reasonable?” Ace clicked twice. 

“Good! Good.” Rusty laughed. 

“Let me ask again. Ace, have you ever been in a vehicle like this? I mean outside the Pokeball, actually strapped in.” Ace clicked twice. 

“Oh? Even though you could easily cut through the seatbelts?” Ace clicked twice. 

Rusty smiled while talking. Ace felt completely comfortable with him. The commander talked to Ace like he was a real person, just like Octavia. That made Ace happy. 

“Ace, do you love Octavia?” Ace clicked twice very hard, hard enough to feel the vibrations in his knives for seconds after. 

“Good. That’s important. A lot of people forget how important the relationship between Pokémon and trainer is. But it’s very crucial for the kind of job Octavia was forced into.” Ace looked curious, wondering why Rusty was saying this. 

“This job isn’t something I, or anyone else, signed up for. We literally fight for our freedom. I wish I wasn’t driving you where I am now, because I don’t want you to be put through anything close to what I was.” Rusty looked somber. “You want to protect her, don’t you?” 

Ace clicked twice. Rusty looked over momentarily while he was stopped at a red light, and saw a determination in his eyes. 

His smile returned. “Then you’ll do just fine.”

* * *

“We finally arrived.” Rusty said while stepping out of the vehicle. He went over to Ace’s door and opened it. He unfastened his seatbelt and stepped out of the way so Ace could hop down onto the pavement. And that he did. 

Ace waddled on the cement, Rusty leading the way. Rusty opened the door and Ace recognized the place as the police station Octavia fought the Steelix. 

Rusty spotted a familiar captain sitting on a couch with his legs on a coffee table. He walked over to him, while Ace followed. 

“Captain Max, it’s nice to see you.” Rusty told him. The captain looked back up at him. 

“Yeah, nice to see you, too Rusty. Why’re you here?” Max asked crankily. He took a sip of his coffee. Rusty could see the bags under his eyes..

“I need you to take me to Apollo.” Rusty said. 

Max noticed Ace. “Hey isn’t that one girl’s pawniard? Fuck what was her name again..” 

“Octavia.”

“Yeah, Octavia. So you want to take her pawniard to Apollo to get him all suited up?” Max asked. 

“Yeah.”

“Alright, let’s go.” Max stood up swiftly. He walked to an elevator and pressed the button. While waiting he anxiously tapped his foot on the ground. Ace noticed this. 

The elevator door opened with a ding and the group stepped inside. Max pressed another button that said ‘B3’.

After a thirty second long ride, the doors opened to reveal a training room similar to the SDA training room. Though this one had six different pokemon on the field and one man as well as a pool. 

Most notably, a Hydreigon was firing a dragon pulse at a giant plate of metal continuously. Presumably, this plate of metal could somehow resist the dragon pulse. A Ferrothorn was racing around the room. In one corner, two pokemon sat. A lucario and gardevoir were meditating in unison. In the pool, a floatzel was swimming back and forth doing laps. Lastly, a Staraptor with giant weights strapped to it flew across the room. Ace was in awe. He had never seen pokemon doing such intensive training before. 

“Apollo!” Max called. 

The orange haired man in the middle of the room turned and half jogged over to the elevator entrance where they were. 

“Boss, it’s nice to see you. Who are the guests?” Apollo asked. Apollo was a man of considerable stature. You could see the muscles through his black collar shirt and golden tie. He wore gray khakis and black dress shoes. His eyes were a fine green. Ace sensed safety around him. 

Max spoke. “This is Rusty, commander of the SDA. He brought by a pawniard he wants help to train.”

Apollo smiled. “Ah, wonderful! I would be happy to help him.”

Apollo knelt down on both of his knees and held out both of his arms. “Here, come give me a hug!”

Ace swore he didn’t hear him correctly. Did he say he wanted a hug? The last time he hugged someone he gutted them. That was years ago with Octavia, she had to get stitches. And this man just casually wants to hug him?

“What’s wrong? You seem confused, uh what’s your name?”

Rusty spoke up. “His name is Ace.”

“Ace!” Apollo cheered. “What a wonderful name! Come on, hug me!”

Ace reluctantly stepped forward and hugged Apollo. Apollo hugged back without flinching or reeling in pain. Ace felt strange. Was it happiness? Sadness? The unknown feeling consumed him. He hugged back.

“Pawniards tend to have this issue of hugging. Since they’re used to their bodies being hazards, they’ve been touch starved in a way.” Apollo spoke. After a few more moments, he backed off from Ace. 

Ace felt relieved. 

“Rusty, Max, you guys can go upstairs and wait, I’ll bring him up when I’m done.” Apollo smiled gently. 

“Don’t take too long.” Max barked. Rusty followed behind him to the elevator, where they disappeared behind closing doors. Apollo called for Ace to follow him. 

One of the walls of the training room had a door. Through that door was a room that from wall to wall was lined with shelves. On those shelves were small dvd cases. Each was numbered. On the right side of the room was a bin filled with miscellaneous electronics. 

“Alright, let’s get started.” Apollo said. “First, I want to give you a translator so I can communicate better with you. So let me go get that first.” 

Apollo immediately dove into the bin of miscellaneous electronics and pulled out a radio looking machine. 

“Here let me put this on you.” He told the pokemon. Apollo took the translator and affixed it to the side of Ace’s head. 

“There you go, try talking!” Apollo said. 

**“A...Apo… Apollo…”** Ace stuttered. This was weird for him. Even among pokemon, pawniards aren’t very vocal. He would have to adjust to this. 

“Good! You can at least say my name! Here, I have a couple questions to ask you.” Apollo’s face turned more serious. “What kind of pokemon do you want to be?”

**“...Strong...“** Ace replied. 

“I see. And why do you want to be strong? Do you want to be more powerful than everyone? Do you love fighting? What is your reason for strength?” Apollo asked. 

**“... To...protect.”** Ace answered with conviction. Apollo could see his seriousness. 

Apollo smiled. He was happy to see this sort of desire from a partner pokemon. Without this kind of incessant need, pokemon would have a hard time getting stronger. “ Alright, I have an idea. Give me a moment.” Apollo looked among the shelves for specific cases. He picked one up. Then another. And the final one. 

“I got them all. Please, come over here.” Apollo opened a laptop and turned it on. He pulled out a CD and smirked. “These are called TMs, short for technical machines. They can teach pokemon moves they wouldn’t otherwise know.”

“Let’s get to work shall we?” 

* * *

“Alright so now that we got that done, let’s move onto the last move you need.” Apollo said. Ace felt strangely powerful. Someone helped him tailor himself to  _ his  _ desires. Not anyone else’s. 

“Luckily, I  _ am _ a registered move tutor and can teach this last move. It may take a couple of hours though.” Apollo started walking out of the room. “Let’s go test your new powers, huh?”

Ace happily waddled to the man and out of the room. Now, in the training room, Apollo called over his lucario. 

“Alright Lucario, I need your help with training Ace here. Let him use his new attacks on you, okay?”

The lucario nodded and got into its fighting stance. Ace entered his fighting stance. Despite training with Octavia often, this was the first time in a very long time he had fought against another pokemon. 

Ace rushed the lucario, while preparing an attack. The lucario didn’t move at all, he was simply prepared to receive the hit. 

Ace used X Scissor on the lucario, which sent him a few steps back. Ace felt nothing but  _ pride _ from this. 

Apollo smiled. “Good job, Ace! You’re doing great!”

Ace took the compliment happily. He threw his arms in the air with glee. 

“Alright next, use Protect!” Apollo commanded. Ace happily obliged as a bubble shield appeared around him. 

“Lucario! Use Dragon Pulse!” In an instant, the lucario opened his maw and a dragon pulse ripped through the air and struck Ace’s shield. After a few seconds the dragon pulse fizzled out, and Ace stood victorious against the attack. 

He happily danced at his successful defense. 

“Alright, next up, use Thunderwave!” Apollo yelled. Ace shot a surge of electricity at the lucario. He took the Thunderwave easily. 

“Good job Ace!” Ace was full of joy. 

“Alright, time to teach you your final move. This may take a bit of getting used to.” Apollo told the little soldier.

“Ace, how comfortable are you with your own typing?” He asked.

Ace stood for a second, thinking.  **“What.. do you mean..?”**

“Well, every pokemon has a specific typing. This was learned through extensive research over many years. But what does a specific typing have to do with each individual pokemon? My theory is that it is a certain kind of understanding that can only be attained through practice. I can help you understand your typing. First reach your arms to your inner core.” Apollo said.

**“..Core?..”** Ace touched his knife appendages to his chest. 

“Yes. Now think on why you want strength.” Ace was not used to thought provoking questions like these. But if this was what it meant to be a true warrior, he was ready.

Why did Ace want his power? To protect. He wanted to protect Octavia. His master. All his life he was protected by her. She fed him, kept him warm, all sorts of things. Now it was his turn to protect her. 

A faint glow appeared on the knives. Slowly they turned to a fine silver light. 

“Good. Now project that energy at lucario.” He instructed.

Ace extended his arms. This was a second nature he had been missing his entire life. The glow brightened, and a ball of energy formed in front of him. The ball of energy blinded Ace with its brightness.

“Fire!” Ace shot the beam of Steel at lucario. It was a weak beam, but a beam nonetheless. The lucario tanked the attack like it was nothing. The beam dispersed and Ace felt a lot calmer than when he began his training session. 

“Good. Congratulations Ace, you’re now in fighting shape. Now onto more  _ fine _ uses of your abilities.”

* * *

“Lastly, try using Protect while moving, you’d be surprised how helpful and useful this technique is for yourself and your teammates.” 

Ace used Protect. The shield appeared around Ace. However, it was hard to move. He would have to practice this more at home. 

“Well, that’s all for today. Let’s go see Rusty and Max upstairs, huh?” Apollo said cheerfully. Apollo started towards the elevator and Ace followed along. They stepped into the machine and Apollo tapped a button. Ace felt strange. 

The education Ace had received from Apollo made him feel like he was a torchic that broke out of its egg; Ace felt like he was born anew. He looked down at his knives. His knife appendages still felt tingly after firing off a Steel Beam. 

The doors of the elevator opened, revealing Rusty and Max sitting down with each other in the commons area of the station. Rusty noticed Ace and Apollo. “Oh, are you guys done?”

Apollo spoke. “Yeah, he’s all yours--”

**“..Wait..”**

Apollo turned to Ace, curious. He poked a knife at the translator on the side of his head. 

**“..Not..yet..”** Ace shoved his knife between the translator and his head and used the leverage to remove it. The translator fell to the floor, unharmed. 

“Ace, why?” Apollo asked. Ace only looked at him with conviction. He couldn't explain this to Apollo, but he wanted the first time for Octavia to hear his voice to be when he was a bisharp instead of a pawniard.

He needed to get stronger. 

* * *

The ride back to the SDA was exciting. Ace wanted so badly to show Octavia his new moves. So, when he finally got back he rushed up the stairs and then down the stairs into the training room.

Octavia was sitting outside her tent with 80 and Lemon. As soon as she saw him, she smiled. “So Ace, how was the training?” Octavia asked. Ace responded by waving his arms in the air happily. 

Octavia looked proud. 80 suddenly spoke up. “I vote Ace shows us his new moves on Lemon!” Ace nodded excitedly.

“Hey I'm not gonna be a punching bag for the walking knife to use!” Lemon retorted. 

“Aw, come on Lemon, don't be such a Debby douchebag.” 80 teased, smiling. 

“Fine! Fine! I’ll fight the razor blade.” Lemon gave up. He moved into the middle of the training room and Ace stood directly across from him, ready to spar.

“Don't ruin my jeans, alright?” Lemon told Ace sarcastically.

Ace carefully shuffled out of Lemon’s range, signifying he was ready to battle. Lemon could see that this wasn't the same pawniard that would just go for cheap ankle stabs. A fire was in his eyes.

Suddenly, Ace charged towards Lemon. As soon as he was within two meters of Lemon, Lemon attempted a low kick at Ace. But Ace was baiting him. Ace immediately activated Protect, blocking the kick.

Lemon was stunned by this and was completely open. After the kick landed upon his shield, Ace dropped it and shot Lemon with a Thunderwave. Lemon stumbled backwards and fell on his ass, paralyzed. Ace then leapt on top of him and pointed his knives at Lemon’s throat. 

Ace had won. But he didn't  _ just _ win. He swept the floor with Lemon. 80 and Octavia were in shock. Ace stepped off of Lemon and wandered towards Octavia’s tent. Lemon still wasn’t quite sure what happened. 

Octavia approached Ace. “Ace, I..” Octavia was at a loss for words. She had never seen him so.. powerful. “I’m proud of you, Ace.”

In response, Ace saluted his master. He would be loyal to her to the bitter end. 

He was happy. 


	15. Capture

The van that belonged to the SDA was speeding down the streets of Zuheimer. Police cars wailed through the night. Octavia was strapped into the back of the van, anxious about this mission. Miyu was driving, Lemon was in shotgun. 80 sat next to Octavia while Miles sat across, next to Rusty. 

Rusty spoke. “Alright, since we didn't have any time, we’re doing the mission briefing here. Our target has been identified as Jack Filso. He is a thief that has been running rampant recently, stealing from casinos, banks, museums and more. You name it, he's stolen from it. He is an aura ability user, we know that he uses some kind of smoke. He is dangerous and we are trying to capture him. Just an hour ago he broke into a bank and now he's on the run. We are to capture him  _ alive _ . Everyone understand?”

A resounding “yes sir” echoed throughout the van. Whenever they were on missions, Octavia noticed that everyone had a serious face on. Even the cheerful 80 wore a scowl. This only fueled her anxiety. 

80 noticed the shadow cast over her friend's face. She decided to take off her serious face. As she did, her face softened into a gentle smile. She put her hand on Octavia's and as she did, Octavia flinched for a second. 

Octavia looked up at 80 and saw her scowl had dissipated. Octavia carefully fit her hand snug into 80's. 

80 smiled. “Come on, let's get through this together, ok?” Octavia's anxiety weakened. She had to get herself together, now was her time to shine. 

“Okay..” Octavia told herself that, but her hand didn't let go of the grip it had on 80. 

80 didn't mind. 

~~~

A small girl with spiky red hair in two pigtails sat on the edge of a tall building. She kicked her legs back and forth like a child on a swing. The wind blew her hair from side to side as she watched over the golden-orange city below her which contrasted nicely with the dark sky above them. Some might call it gorgeous and beautiful, but not her. It seemed so dull.

Next to her stood two gargantuan men, maybe around seven feet tall. These men had white metal masks that covered their entire head. A red stripe ran across them, it looked somewhat like a premium ball. The only difference was that where their face was supposed to be was a giant mechanical eyeball. The eyeball was black with a yellow pupil and red iris. They wore trench coats, looking more like pillars and less like humans.

The woman spoke. “Golgo, any info?”

The man named Golgo’s eye spun around, taking in all the information the environment had to offer.  **“I have spotted a significant amount of life forms in a van. Their path will intersect with where we sit. They seem to be aura ability users.”**

The woman’s face brightened up. “That must be the SDA… Golgo, how long until they're in my range?”

**“A little under two minutes, ma’am.”** Golgo’s voice was deep and robotic.

“I'm sure my big brother would appreciate me getting these people out of the way. That Jack is  _ our _ prey, he won't end up in the police’s hands.”

The other bodyguard spoke.  **“Miss Lavender, are you sure you want to pick a fight with the SDA?”**

Lavender pulled billiard balls out of her pockets and used her ability on them, causing them to be weightless. The many orbs floated in the air, surrounding her. She motioned for Golgo. He handed her a specialized cue stick made just for her.

“Stop your worrying Tyran, I’m keeping my distance.” Lavender spoke. She prepared a shot with utmost precision, doing the calculations of where to shoot and how the billiards will hit each other in her head.

All of the balls were aligned, all she had to do was wait for the target to get into position.

~~~

Miyu carefully watched the road as he noticed a black figure darting down the sidewalk. The man perfectly matched the description of their target. Jack.

Miyu yelled. “Everyone! I have a visual on our target! He's running down the street!” As soon as he heard this, Rusty sat up and stood behind Miyu, watching the action.

“Good work Miyu, keep gaining on him.” Rusty complimented.

“Yes sir!” Miyu replied. The van’s engine roared as Miyu pressed harder on the pedal. Octavia’s anxiety was climbing again, she held onto 80’s hand harder. 80 squeezed back and looked at her.

Jack looked behind to see the van gaining on him. He cursed to himself, throwing a smoke bomb in front of them. These times Jack wished he could run faster than a vehicle. 

Lemon raised his voice. “Hey, asshat! Up there!” He pointed to the top of a building in the distance. 

Suddenly, Miyu spotted atop a building three figures and floating orbs..? He realized something. They ran into a trap. He could feel the intention to kill behind the figure on that building. 

He yelled. “Everyone! Get down!” 

Octavia perceived this all in almost slow motion. The yelling seemed to be drowned out. “Everything will be alright, Octavia.” 80 told her.

A loud sound of metal ripping apart pierced everyone's ears.

~~~

Octavia woke up on cold concrete. She had a splitting headache. She looked up and saw her worst nightmare. 

“Wh-where am I?” Flames surrounded her. Burnt metal was on the ground. She looked at herself; she was covered in blood, but it wasn't her own. She patted her body, desperately looking for an injury, but couldn't find one. She looked around her and saw 80 lying on the ground, a chunk of her flesh missing. She looked over and saw Miles missing an arm. Rusty was yelling something, she didn't know what. What was happening? Was she dreaming? A ringing sounded throughout her ears. Her body felt numb.

Lemon ran over to her. “Hey, Octavia! You alive?!”

Huh?

Octavia looked at him blankly. “Come on, Octavia get up!” Lemon yelled.

She stumbled to her feet. Rusty ran over to her and Lemon.

“Listen, I know things are bad but you two need to chase after Jack, me and Miyu will make sure Miles and 80 are safe. They aren't dead and I won't leave them behind. Now go!”

But 80 was injured. She couldn’t just leave her behind, what kind of person abandons--

Lemon grabbed Octavia and pulled her along. “Come on! Let’s go!”

Octavia had to focus. But she was losing herself and she was spiraling and and… what would Ace do if she didn’t come back?

Lemon stopped for a second and looked at Octavia, who was having a mental breakdown. 

“Octavia, look at me.”

Octavia looked up at him and saw a fierce determination in his eyes. Lemon spoke. “Ace works his ass off for you because he thinks you’re amazing. You gotta show him just how amazing you are, okay? We can go over this more later, but, fuck, we got someone to catch. Now, come on!” Lemon started sprinting to an alleyway.

That was right. She needed to prove to Ace, no, to  _ herself _ she was strong. She immediately started sprinting after Lemon, catching up with him easily.

“Sorry I was freaking out there for a second. I lost sight of myself.” Octavia said while they ran.

Lemon smirked in response. “You had me worried there for a second, but good to see you’re back to normal.”

~~~

“Are all preparations complete, brother?” Lavender spoke to her brother over the phone. She was still sitting on the building she had shot the SDA’s van from.

“More than just complete, Lav. Things are going fantastic on my end. Make your way to the rendezvous I have listed on your phone. I’ll be seeing you there.” 

“Argus wait, what do you--” A tone interrupted her sentence, signifying she was hung up on. Boiling rage of her brother’s bad habit pissed her off more than words could describe.

“Gah! That damn Argus asks me to do a favor for him and he  _ still fucking  _ treats me the same way! I swear when I see him next I’ll beat the shit out of him!”

**“Did he hang up on you again, miss?”** Golgo inquired.

“Yes! He did! I swear he only thinks about himself sometimes!” Lavender yelled.

**“We should be going, ma’am. Argus Heyline is not one to be kept waiting.”** Tyran advised. Lavender stood up from the edge of the building. 

“Fine, fine. Let’s go.”

~~~

“I see him!” Lemon shouted to Octavia. They were hot on Jack’s trail. In fact, right behind him. Octavia heard what Lemon said and immediately sprinted faster than Lemon could run. Lemon was surprised just how speedy Octavia could get, though with those long legs of hers, he really shouldn’t have been surprised.

Octavia’s eyes looked like knives, and in the instant Jack looked behind him he saw just how fearsome she looked. He was so preoccupied with the chill going up and down his spine he didn’t even notice he had run himself into a corner.

Jack bumped into a cold brick wall behind him. Octavia and Lemon stood in front of him, blocking his path. But instead of being concerned, he simply smirked through his mask.

“I would love to stay but really, I must get going.” He told them while throwing smoke grenades in the air. He took a deep breath and spewed smoke all around him, covering him completely.

“Not so fast, chain smoker!” Lemon yelled while diving to the smoke where Jack had disappeared, only to find nothing was there. “What?!”

Octavia heard footsteps above her, she looked up to see Jack fleeing on a fire escape. She immediately climbed up the alley wall and onto the fire escape. She chased after the thief with a determination she had only felt a few times in her life.

Faster than she realized, she reached the top of the fire escape and stepped onto the roof, where she faced off with Jack.

Jack stood at the edge of the building they stood atop. Octavia slowly approached him. She could hear Lemon struggling up the stairs below her.

“It’s over, Jack. Just come with me and you won’t be hurt.”

Jack turned to the fledgeling detective. “Really now?” He smirked.

“Yes.” Octavia replied.

Jack laughed. “You and me both know that neither of us can live without getting hurt, we are  _ ostracized _ from society! No one wants freaks like us! They want to chain and enslave us! You don’t realize it but that’s what they’ve already done to you! This power, this  _ ability _ , it’s a curse! But I.. I can use it for good. And that’s what I--’ He was cut off by a dart.

Jack fell to the floor silently. Octavia wasn’t the one who fired the dart, she turned to see someone she had never seen before and.. Darkness.

~~~

“Two birds with one stone, huh?” Argus said, standing over the unconscious Jack and Octavia. Behind him was Lavender, her two guards, and his own personal guard. 

“Is this what you meant by, quote unquote, ‘more than prepared?’” Lavender asked.

“Yes, actually. With this, we have something known as ‘leverage.’” Argus told her.

Finally, Lemon reached the top of the building and saw the people standing over his friend’s unconscious body.

“You assholes, what did you do to Octavia?!” Lemon yelled.

Argus looked over, intrigued. “Oh? Is she a friend of yours?” Argus taunted. Lemon’s rage grew.

He sprinted over, yelling incoherently. Golgo stepped in front of him, blocking his path. “Outta my way, fatso!” Lemon yelled. Golgo stared back at him with a creepy glowing eye. After Lemon got a real look at the bulky man, he realized he might not win.

Immediately, Golgo picked him up and ripped him in half, throwing his legs off the building and leaving his upper half on the roof. Golgo showed no mercy to anyone.  **“None shall disrespect Master Argus of The Great Heyline Mafia! You will be an example to all those who dare oppose us, feel grateful!”**

Lemon’s body was struggling to recover in time. Argus ordered Golgo’s counterpart, Tyran, to hold the unconscious bodies. “Wait! Don’t you leave with my friend!” Lemon yelled. 

Argus looked over at the torn apart Lemon. “You’re still alive? What a curious one. Let’s leave him alive to act as a messenger for us, shall we?”

**“Yes, Master Argus.”** Golgo replied.

“I said wait, damn you!” Lemon screamed, crawling with his arms.

“See you later, corpse man.” Argus said casually before leaving, along with the rest of his group.

Lemon lost.


	16. Golem Fortress I

Chapter 16

“We failed…” Rusty said solemnly. He sat at his desk with his hands gripping each other. Rusty, Miyu, Lemon, Ace and Roxy sat in silence in the office. Miles and 80 were in their infirmary, still recovering. A cold sweat born from stress formed at their heads.

Lemon spoke up, grief in his voice. “This is my fault. I let them get away with Octavia. If I wasn't so  _ fucking  _ reckless, she would be with us here right now.” 

Ace stood, silent. Was he angry? Was he upset? He didn't know. All he wanted was his master, his trainer, his  _ friend  _ back. He started to walk out of the room. Lemon wanted to say something, anything, to him. But no matter what, there was nothing he could say to the pawniard.

“Ace.” That voice was not Lemon’s, but Rusty’s. He rested his hands down on his desk, and pushed himself up to stand. Ace partially turned to look at him. Rusty’s face was unlike everyone else’s. He was not defeated. Not yet.

Ace fully turned now. He wanted to hear what Rusty had to say. So, he walked up to his desk and stared him down with cold piercing eyes. 

Rusty breathed in. “As we know, Octavia and Jack were taken alive. Is that true, Lemon?”

“No doubt about it. If they wanted them dead, they coulda easily just torn them to shreds like they did with me. The bastard wanted me to serve as his ‘messenger’ or some bullshit. He had these two  _ huge _ bodyguards and one of ‘em fucked me up. Said the guy who looked like their boss was named Argus Heyline.”

Rusty's eyebrows went up. His speculation with Miles that a gang war was just on the horizon seemed much more realistic. The young head of the Heyline mafia coming out  _ just _ to deal with a petty thief seemed unlikely. Jack was most likely a bigger player than previously thought. 

“Thank you for the information, Lemon. Because of your info, I now have a lead.” Ace became visibly anxious. Rusty noticed this. “Calm down, Ace. We need to wait for Miles and 80 to properly recover first before I can make any announcements. You are all dismissed.”

As soon as those words were said, Ace and Miyu left the room. Ace to go train, Miyu to make sure Miles and 80 would recover properly. Lemon was left behind in the office, standing completely still. Both Rusty and Roxy noticed this. 

“Is something the matter, Lemon?” Rusty asked. Lemon’s fists were clenched. 

“I just.. She was  _ right _ there. I could have saved her. But I didn't make it in time. If I was a little bit faster I could--” Roxy’s fist collided with Lemon’s face. He was sent flying back into a desk, knocking papers and supplies off of it.

Roxy was agitated. “Shut up! You're immortal aren't you?! So what if your friend was taken? All that means is that you have to help get her back! So stop being so fucking mopey and focus! You’ve got a job to do!” After yelling this, she left the room, cursing under her breath. Lemon was still left in shock, feeling at his face. His jaw was still repairing itself after being broken apart by the sheer force of Roxy’s blow.

Rusty got up and rushed to Lemon. “I'm so sorry she did that. I--” He was halfway to him when Lemon spoke.

“No. She was right. I needed that.” He said, his voice messed up due to his mouth still fixing itself. He got off the desk he was laying on and stood up. “I need to take a stand. I was able to give Octavia this lecture, but I'm really the one who needed it.”

Lemon left the room without another word, leaving Rusty all to himself. Rusty wished Roxy would stop those explosive outbursts like that. But he knew that she would do anything to keep anyone from falling to the same fate she did. 

~~~

Octavia stuttered awake, feeling like she had been asleep for the last millennia. She felt the cold floor beneath her. She could feel something squeezing around her wrists. She finally opened her eyes, to see that she had handcuffs on. The handcuffs were chained to a white concrete wall. She was in a completely white room. The only entrance was a metal door on one side of the room. 

“Finally awake, huh?” A voice shot across from her. She looked over to see a scruffy masked man, chained to the wall in a similar fashion. “Though, we wouldn't be here if you didn't chase me in the first place. But, then again, we wouldn't both be here if I didn't rob them in the first place… huh. I guess you really can trace blame back to anywhere you want! No wonder all those asshats on city council stay in power!” The masked man laughed. Octavia was confused. 

“Who are you? Where am I?” She asked.

“Well, sweetheart, my name is Jack. You were chasing me down an alleyway when, presumably, the assholes of the Heyline mafia caught us. From there, I don't know. Though, I do have an inkling.”

Octavia tried to get her arms loose from the handcuffs but no matter the shaking she did, she was stuck. She started breathing heavy, getting anxious. Jack got annoyed.

“Hey, princess, calm the fuck down. Last thing I need is a panic attack myself. So calm down, alright?” Octavia looked at him. 

“How can I stay calm?! I'm locked in a room Arceus knows where with the man I tried imprisoning and and--”

“Hey, no hard feelings about the trying to arrest me thing, happens all the time. Besides, karma already paid you back for trying to arrest me by arresting both of us. So tell me, what's your name? I can't exactly keep calling you sweetheart.”

“My name is Octavia Aldark. I'm a sorta detective of the SDA.”

“Whaddya mean sorta?” He replied.

“Well, I don't have full control over my ability yet..” Octavia muttered shamefully.

Jack snorted. “You're kidding. I saw what you can really do. What you did to that Steelix, literally punched it to pieces. With that kinda power, you could easily get us out of here.”

“Well, I don't have an exact on or off switch. I don't even know how it's supposed to work.”

“I mean, yeah considering you only awakened that power recently, it makes sense. But you know, you gotta think of it more like you do your legs rather than a power you ‘activate’, y’know?” Jack told her. This really helped Octavia visualize it.

“I see…” 

“How many times have you activated your ability other than when you killed the Steelix? What was it like?”

“The only other time I activated my ability was when I was just out of reach from catching someone who was about to fall.”

“See? It's a physical reflex. My ability allows me to spew smoke and teleport between clouds of smoke. To me, exhaling smoke is as natural as breathing. I would demonstrate it for you if this mask they gave me allowed any freedom in that regard.”

“That actually kinda helps.. but why are you telling me this? Aren't I your enemy?”

“If I learned anything in my line of work, friends can help. So as long as we're both trapped in these walls, let's be friends, alright?” He offered.

“How do I know you won't backstab me..?” She asked.

“Kid, why would I backstab my only means of escape? Seems kinda counter intuitive dontcha think? And, as much as I am a criminal, I have my own reasons for being in the line of work I'm in. So, friends for now?”

After many years of abuse and betrayal, Octavia had developed a keen sense of who she could and could not trust. While this man was odd, she felt like she could trust him. 

“Alright. I’ll trust you for now. So, any ideas on how to escape?” 

“About that… I have no idea if you can't use your ability.” Jack confessed.

“Is my ability really that important?” Octavia asked, concerned.

“Yeah, actually. They've seen me use my ability many times now. They probably own countless tapes and have deduced my whole skill set. But you? The only video that exists of you is you breaking apart a Steelix with an ability no one understands, not even you understand that shit! That wildcard of yours, I'm tellin’ ya, it's our ticket outta here!”

“Maybe so, but.. how do I even work it?” Octavia was full of concern and spite towards herself. Maybe her foster dad was right, maybe she was useless. Just as she thought about her foster dad, she remembered the dream she had. The dream she had after she awakened her ability.

She remembered her twin telling herself that she wasn't alone anymore. Maybe if she “focused hard enough she could get something to happen? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She wasn't alone anymore. In her life was Ace, 80, and more. She had friends now. 

She had a place to belong. The feeling of belonging began to swell in her chest. Butterflies flew around her stomach as she thought about those she cared about. Belonging.

She opened her eyes and a copy of her flickered in front of her eyes. Phasing in and out of existence. The copy of her which was going in and out of existence stood there. She was finally able to get a good look at her twin. Where her eyes would be was replaced by glowing red voids. It looked ominous, yet calming. Frightening, yet soothing.

Her twin stopped flickering and disappeared, leaving Jack and Octavia alone in the room. Jack would like to say he was disappointed that her attempt at summoning her aura ability failed, but that was no failure. She had been able to make her twin appear and hell, that was satisfying for him to see his words of advice pay off.

“I'm sorry.” Octavia said, anguish in her voice.

“Hey, it's alright. You tried, yeah? That was a better shot than doing absolutely nothing so props to you. You did well.” Octavia was definitely not expecting words of praise from Jack. Maybe he wasn't so bad.

“Alright, I’ll try again.” She said with confidence.

“There ya go, maybe you can break us out this time.” He joked.

“Yeah, hopefully.” Octavia replied, feeling positive. 

This positivity all went down the drain when the metal door to their cell creaked and opened, revealing a massive man with a white metal mask.

**“Prisoner, come with me.”** He commanded. He stomped towards Octavia, yanked the chains that held her down right out of the concrete, and then pulled her along with him towards the door. She wasn't sure if she wanted to scream or not; she could only shudder in fear. She darted her eyes to Jack, who was also petrified. But she couldn't see him for long, as she was soon out of their room and being dragged along the floor down a long white hallway. 

She looked up at the monstrous looking man, memorizing his metallic face. The only thing to memorize, though, was that it had a single eye in the middle and was completely flat all around. 

“Hey, uh, where are you taking me?” She asked.

**“You do not need to worry, you will not be awake for long.”** Octavia started to panic at that statement. Would she be killed? Tortured? As she was busy worrying about her own predicament, she looked over and saw the hallway had changed. The horrors that she saw had her eyes wide open in fear.

Person after person behind bars. They were of all shapes and sizes, genders, ethnicities, ages, it didn't matter. They were all imprisoned and looked to be starving. They didn't say a word. Only expressions of despair covered their faces. Fear crept through Octavia's body. She was sure she wouldn't live this.

Octavia began to catastrophize. Only one thought persisted throughout her mind. She whispered it quietly, praying. 

“Help me.” 


	17. Golem Fortress II

Chapter 17

Octavia shook as hard as her body allowed, trying to struggle however she could. But this was all to no avail. The metal man kept dragging her along without any reaction to her vain efforts. 

The people behind bars that she kept seeing. She feared she would meet the same fate. She could hear her own heartbeat pumping loudly. A cold sweat formed all over her body. 

Then, she heard a man yelling. “Let me out of here!” She looked over and saw a middle aged man who looked filthy and ragged. His face wore desperation. His eyes were wide. He was shaking. 

He was yelling at the man who was dragging her. “Please! I can't spend another day here--” He was cut off by a bullet. The guard who was dragging Octavia had pulled out a gun and shot the man directly in the forehead. 

The now deceased man fell to the floor, blood spilling all over the ground. Octavia's eyes were wide with horror. 

**“We have no use for whiney pigs like you.”** The man spoke with a deep robotic voice. He put back the gun in a pocket back inside his trench coat and continued pulling Octavia along. 

Octavia was sure she would die.

~~~

The guard dragged Octavia inside a new room, and threw her to the floor. End of the line.  **“I have brought you Octavia, miss Clara.”**

Octavia looked around and saw a woman with short, wavy brown hair. She had an excited smile on her face. She looked behind the woman and saw many machines in this massive laboratory.

“Octavia? I remember her from the news. She's much taller in person, huh? Oh and by the way, thank you for bringing her here, Tyran. I know you're always so busy worrying about Lavender so to help me is very kind of you.” She told him.

**“Think nothing of it, miss Clara. It would be quite troublesome if a simple grunt was sent to transport her and she escaped. It's a pleasure to help those in the Heyline mafia.”** He replied. During this casual conversation, Octavia was too afraid to speak. 

“Oh! In that case, would you mind helping me with one more thing? I need someone strong like you in particular to help with this.”

**“I would love to be of assistance. How can I help?”** He inquired. 

“I need you to  **hold her down.** ” She commanded. Anxiety spiked. Octavia's breathing got heavy. 

**“Yes ma’am.”** Tyran was quick to hold Octavia by her arms down. Octavia shuddered in fear. It felt like two hydraulic presses were crushing her wrists. Clara got out a needle with an unknown liquid inside of it. Octavia began to thrash her body as hard as she could, but nothing worked. This monster would not move. 

Clara stuck the needle inside of Octavia, causing her immense pain. It felt like a fire was crawling up her arm. She cried for help. But she could not move anymore. She couldn't cry or yell. She could only watch. 

“Alright, my job should be good from here. Thanks again, Tyran!”

**“Again, it is my pleasure. Helping a member of my family is a natural thing to do. Now, have a good evening Ms.Clara. I hope your experiment goes well.”** He said in response, before leaving the room. 

Clara turned to the chained and paralyzed Octavia. “Isn't he the nicest guy? Always so helpful. Whenever I need anything, he always does it without question. We really need more people like him in this world. Unfortunately for you, I am _ not _ a nice person. Prepare yourself, Octavia.” Clara told Octavia. Tears started welling up in Octavia’s expressionless face. Octavia felt so sorrowful. She just wanted to be back  _ home _ , with Ace. 

“Now, let's get you all set up.” Clara dragged the unmoving Octavia towards a certain machine. She picked her up and placed her in there. She cuffed her arms to the armrests and her ankles to the machine itself. Even if she could move her body, Octavia wouldn't be able to escape. “Alright, that's all set! Now, this might hurt, Octavia. Just handle it for a little bit and you won't feel a thing anymore, okay?”

Tears were still streaming down Octavia’s face. The machine she was strapped into began moving, and it released a hydraulic arc with a few needle-like mechanisms on the end. Octavia had no choice but to stare helplessly as the needles punctured the skin on her hand and made its way inside of her. Pain seethed from the wound. She could feel the machine messing around inside her body. 

“I might as well explain to you what's happening, Octavia.” Clara said. “This machine right here can collect all sorts of info from any organism. I'm researching how aura abilities affect the human body. Your pain will fuel my efforts in bioengineering. So, you should be extra grateful you get to help me with paving the way to a much more powerful human!”

Octavia didn't care anymore. She was going to die, right? So why bother? What's the point? Her mouth was hanging open involuntarily. Her limbs had no way of moving. She couldn't wipe the tears from her clouded eyes. 

“Alrighty, the results should be out soon. Just hang tight there a bit longer…” as she said this, the machine started whirring. She could feel blood from her body be sucked up and into the contraption. Octavia felt violated. 

The machine made a beep and quickly and deftly removed the needles from her hand. Clara moved to the side of the machine and checked a monitor that displayed all the information it collected. Her eyes widened when she saw the results. 

“..Woah… your body, it-- I need to get Argus!” Clara immediately dashed out of the lab, leaving Octavia cuffed to the machine. 

For the first time in a while, Octavia felt relieved to be alone. 

~~~

Ace trained with Lemon much more seriously. He always went for the killing blows. More often than not, he landed them. Lemon had learned his tactics though, and was making considerable progress too. He even learned that if Ace stabbed him, he could squeeze his body together where the stab wound was to make it hard for Ace to move. 

Ace didn't take long to realize he should only stab to end a fight, and to slice throughout one. Ace and Lemon helped each other grow significantly.

Meanwhile, Miles and 80 awoke to some terrible news...

“Octavia was taken.” Miyu told them both. He hung his head down while delivering the message. Miles was angry with himself, while 80 just started crying. She knew she couldn't spend time with her forever, but she didn't want to see Octavia go so soon. 

It reached Lemon’s ears that 80 had woken up and was depressed the entire time. So, he went to deliver a message. 

“Lemon, stop!” Miyu tried to stop him but Lemon stomped into the infirmary and looked at 80. 

80 looked at him with a frown. He looked back with a blank expression. He walked over to her and picked her up, much to Miyu’s dismay. Lemon proceeded to throw 80 over his shoulder. He wanted to show her something. 

~~~

“Fight me.” Lemon said. 80 looked back at him. 

“Lemon.. I don’t want to fight you.” She replied, sitting down on the floor of the training room. 

“Listen, I know you miss Octavia, I do too. But, we gotta train as much as we can so when we go save her, we're strong enough. Roxy already beat that into me, literally, so we have no time to mope around when our friend needs help!” He yelled at her. 

80 stood up and looked at Lemon. Her expression wasn't any extreme emotion. It was soft and somber. She looked down. “I'm not strong like you, Lemon. I wish I was.”

80 slowly turned around and walked out of the training room. Lemon was certainly not expecting that. He felt.. defeated. He wasn't good with emotions and certainly didn't know how they worked. This situation was already complex enough for him as is. Trying to encourage a friend to feel better was harder than he thought. 

~~~

80 sat in Joltin’ Jo’s, sipping on a big glass of milk. She wanted Octavia back. But she was tired. Tired of always fighting, tired of always worrying, tired of fearing that the next mission might just be her last. 

80 looked outside. She watched as people walked by. Everyone on the street was together, but all of them were alone. Just like her. 

She took a big gulp of milk. Milk was always her comfort drink. Comfort. She tried comforting Octavia but in the end, she was taken. And 80 was powerless. She took another gulp. 

She was useless. Just like when--

“80.” She looked up and saw Rusty. “I have a plan. Please come upstairs with me for a meeting.” He turned around and left. 

For some reason, 80 felt a bit more relieved. Rusty never lied to her. Not once. He always spoke the truth. If he sounded hopeful, maybe it was worth fighting. 

She took the rest of her milk and chugged it all almost instantly. She set down the glass and sighed in satisfaction. She stood up and ran up the stairs, feeling just a tiny bit hopeful. 

~~~

“Now that everyone is here, I have an announcement to make.” Rusty stood at his desk. 80 sat on top of what was supposed to be her desk. Miles stood up in front of his desk. Miyu stood in front of his desk, which was next to Miles. Lemon stood in the back of the room, leaning against the wall, Ace right next to him. Finally, Roxy was typing on her laptop with headphones in. 

“We’re going to attack the Heyline Mafia. Directly.” Insecurity spread throughout the room. “We’re going to get her back.”

“The details on this raid are still fuzzy, but we will be requesting outside support this time. We will be calling on the Brass Squad, I'm sure everyone here has heard of them. I will be heading over to the police station later to discuss these details in depth. If anyone has any questions, please ask them now.”

Lemon raised. “Yeah, I have a question. Where exactly is--”

“No questions? Good. I hope you all get ready for this. Dismissed.”

Lemon felt rather offended at his being interrupted. Everyone else slowly drifted out of the room, but Lemon walked up to Rusty. 

“Why'd you interrupt me?” Lemon asked angrily. 

“I know what you're going to ask. And the answer is no. I won't tell you where the raid is.” Rusty answered coldly.

“Why not?!” 

“Because  _ I  _ know that if you were given that information, you would go on your own, get captured, and ruin this operation for everyone else.” Lemon felt offended, but he wasn't exactly wrong. “Now, please, go train with Ace. I look forward to getting Octavia back and we need you at maximum power for that.”

Lemon’s anger only turned to a lesser frustration. And that frustration was at himself. “Fine. I'll be downstairs.” He muttered. Rusty knew exactly how Lemon was feeling. He felt that way himself many times throughout his career. But he mustn't be careless. That causes death. Overlooking things always causes death. 

Just like Shell.

~~~

“When will it be ready?” Rusty asked, over the phone. 

“It should be ready by Friday, Rusty. Let me tell ya, ya really did a number on your last one. These things ain't as cheap as movies make ‘em out to be.” The mechanic told him. 

“I'm sorry about that. We were ambush--” 

“I'm messing with ya, Rusty! Jeez, all ya SDA folks gotta get your humor modules debugged sometime eh? Anyway, your new van should be ready soon. Nice doing business with ya.”

“It's nice doing business with you, too. Have a nice day.” Rusty hung up the call. It really was a call after call kind of day today, huh? Rusty set his phone down and laid back in his chair, stretching his limbs out as far as they could go. He groaned in exhaustion. Stress was piling on top of him. But he wouldn't go down to a little bit of stress. He was the leader. 

And the leader takes the bus to the police station when the van got blown to bits by billiard balls. 

He wasn't used to using public transport, but it was a nice change of scenery. He was mushed in a bus with a bunch of other people. After a while, he was reminded why he only takes the van. 

He arrived at the police station. He looked at it up and down. He was still amazed that in just a couple of weeks they fixed the place up after the Steelix attack. He walked inside and spotted a familiar face sipping coffee with his legs up on the coffee table. 

He approached Max. Rusty’s face was serious. Max saw him and knew something was up. 

“Captain Max. I, Rusty Linzfield, commander of the SDA, request your assistance.” 


	18. Golem Fortress III

Chapter 18

“What’s with the formality, Rusty?” Max asked, coffee mug in hand. To him, coffee was the only thing left worth living for. 

Rusty bowed to him. “Please, Max, I need your help. Please.” Max’s eyebrows went up. He had never seen Rusty like this. ‘First time for everything,’ he told himself. 

“What’s the situation, Rusty?” He asked, taking another sip of his coffee. Max stood back up. 

“Octavia was taken. We need to get her back.”

“And? Sorry, old friend, but I need something more than that to make an operation. Soldiers come and go all the time. That’s life.” He said. 

“Argus Heyline was the one that took her. And, we have a witness.” As he said this, Max’s eyes widened. 

“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Max asked. Max moved out of his lazed position and sat up.

“I am.”

Max hunched over himself. This was his time to strike back. An opportunity had fallen into his hands. All he had to do now was convince—

“Captain!” A new voice yelled. Rusty looked over and saw a pink haired boy? girl? emerge from the elevator. Their hair was up into two side buns, with two bangs hanging down each side of their face. They were tall and lanky. 

They spoke. “Captain, who’s this?” Max looked dead serious. “Captain?”

“Persephone.” Max said. 

“Yes sir?” They replied. 

“Get everyone ready. And I mean  _ everyone.  _ Even Hades.” Max ordered. 

“Captain, what’s wrong..?” Persephone asked. Max’s face was strewn with hatred and killing intent. 

He spoke. “Argus Heyline has made a move. Now, it’s our turn.” Max’s voice was cold and serious instead of his usual dead inside nonchalance. Rusty and Persephone stared at Captain Max, scared. They weren’t surprised, though, especially not after what had happened to him.

~~~

“Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Persephone, Thanatos, Vulcan, I need you all to listen very closely.” Max said. They all stood in the police command room. Max rarely ever gathered everyone here and when he did, it meant business. 

“We are going to be raiding the Heyline Mafia. This operation will involve  _ all _ of the special operatives of the Brass Squad. Yes, even Hades. I need you all to prepare as much as possible. I will go speak with Hades.” Max said with seriousness in his voice. He stood straight with his hands behind his back. 

“Any questions?” He asked. 

Athena, a woman with beautiful blue hair raised her hand. “I have a couple questions, sir. Where are we raiding?”

“We will be raiding the heart of the mafia…  **Golem Fortress** … It was named after the pokemon golem for its security and fortitude. It disguises itself as a group of buildings in the residential district, Clover Garden. Be wary, this building is said to be much,  _ much _ bigger than previously thought. It’s said to be something akin to an underground skyscraper. There will be more briefing on the day of. Any more questions?” 

“One more, sir. Why are you letting Hades on this mission?” Athena asked. Her expression was blank with every word she said. Some would think she's apathetic. However, she was a woman who held many emotions under her mask of uncaringness. 

Max sighed. He knew of Athena and Hades’ distaste for each other, it was a pain to work around but it was his job and he had no other option. “Athena, I know you don't like Hades. But, this is the one time I'm gonna ask you to be on a mission together. I  _ will  _ **_not_ ** tolerate any fighting. Understood? Dismissed.” Max’s words seemed to dampen Athena’s face. 

All of the brass squad members left the room, focused on how they were going to train. Max sat down at his desk, working quietly in an almost empty room. Persephone was still in the room with him. They hopped up to the captain, looking distressed. “Hey, uh, Maxie…”

“Yes, Persephone?” He replied, not looking up from his work. He was focused solely on the raid. 

“I really don't think what you're doing is healthy...” He stopped. He looked up at them. Persephone got flustered from the direct, unwavering eye contact. “I-It’s just.. when you get worked up like this, you get more cold than usual.. and when that happens, something bad always happens.” Persephone looked at him like a sad dog, a small frown on their face. 

Max relaxed his shoulders. “Fine, I guess you're right.” He admitted. He looked back up at them. “I'm sorry for worrying you, I'm just-- This is my chance to catch Argus. I don't want it flying away like last time.”

He looked back at his work. “Thank you, Persephone.”

Persephone made sure to watch for the change in intensity in his eyes. They were right, the eyes that were just filled with hateful bloodlust softened and refined to a careful determination. 

Persephone smiled, their job being done. 

~~~

80 sat in JoJo’s, sipping on some milk. She stared outside, it was getting towards night time and the sun was setting. The gray clouds above cast a giant blanket over the city, cooling it down. She stared outside at the traffic of rush hour. 

She listened to the ambience of cars honking and ambulance sirens in the distance. Downtown Zuheimer was always noisy, but that environment had its own certain kind of charm you couldn't find in very many places. She learned to appreciate it. 

Just as 80 was spacing out, she heard a bell ring at the entrance to JoJo’s. She looked up and saw Catherine. She looked cheerful and happy, ready to drink Joe’s fantastic coffee. 

Catherine sat down across from her. “Hey 80, what's up? You look kinda pale… Is everything alright?” She asked, worried for her friend. Catherine has known 80 for quite a while now, they became friends a couple years back when 80 started working for the SDA. Catherine would come here after school. She treated it as a sort of oasis from the mess that was her life. 

“No, Catherine. I'm not okay. But, something happened and I can't just mope around while waiting for this situation to be resolved. I have to do something.” 80 clenched her fist. She usually never felt this much negative emotion that she couldn't joke. But, her friend was in pain as she was speaking. 

Catherine looked at her friend with worry. “80.. what happened?”

80 took a sip of her milk. “We failed. That's what happened. They took Octavia. But we’re going to get her back.”

Catherine didn't believe what she was just saying. A sort of weight was pulling at her chest. She had just gone out with her to the arcade not even a week ago, showing her the wonders of the big city. “What do you mean? 80, what do you mean?” Catherine's voice got serious. 

Tears formed in 80's eyes. Her voice stuttered out. “The Heyline Mafia.. they took her.” 

Catherine stood up, and grabbed 80 by the collar. A darkness spread over her face. “You promised me, 80! You promised that we wouldn't lose any more friends! We weren't going to lose anyone else! You promised, right?!” Tears streamed down Catherine's face. While an outsider might think that Catherine is overreacting over someone she had just met, Catherine and 80 are old friends. They have seen people come and go. After losing enough, they agreed to not lose their friends anymore. 

When Lemon tried encouraging her, and she backed away--no, she RAN away. 

80 stared back at Catherine with a determination she had never seen in her eyes before. “Sh-She’s still alive… She's still in my reach.. I promise you..” 80’s resolve shined in her eyes brighter than any brighter star. “I will save her.”

~~~

“Hades.” Captain Max’s voice echoed throughout the dark training room. He knew Hades liked it dark down here, something about training to see better in the dark. Unlike Hades, he was not able to see in the dark, so he simply stood in front of the open elevator door.

“Hey there Captain~” A woman’s voice sounded from around the training room. “What brings you here? Have you finally come to fight me?” She asked. 

“I need you for a mission--”

“Really?!” Hades’ excitement was undeniable and true. She was like a little kid on Christmas morning. Except instead of opening presents she was fighting dozens of people at once. She hit a button on a remote she held, turning all the lights on in the training room. 

Her hair was a dark, dull blue and her eyes red and vibrant. And she had a mile wide smile with an unproportionate amount of giddiness in someone who was about to be sent on a suicide mission. Max had always been aware of her.. near psychotic tendencies about fighting. But she just.. loved to fight. She always wants to be stronger. 

To this day, only one person has beaten Hades in a fight, that being Athena. Athena beat Hades in hand to hand combat and ever since, Hades has never stopped bugging Athena for a rematch. Never. 

Athena would be going to the dining hall in the morning and Hades would pop around her, asking for a duel. Athena never accepted.

“Yes, really. Everyone is going on the mission too, so you better behave yourself. If you don't, I won't let you on anymore missions. End of the line. Understood?” Max said. 

“Of course! Why would I mess up a chance like this? I can finally spread my wings and  _ fly~ _ ” She put a joking emphasis on fly and did a little flap like she was a bird. “So, what kind of super mission requires all the gods of the Brass Squad in attendance?”

“We’re raiding the Heyline Mafia.” In an instant, Max could see stars in the soldier’s eyes. As good of an ally as she was, she had her creepy moments. “We’re infiltrating the heart of their operations, Golem Fortress. Make sure you're prepared for that day.” Hades still made googly eyes at him. “N-now, return to your training. Dismissed.”

Max immediately turned around and walked to the elevator. He slammed the button and the doors shut. That girl always gave him the creeps. He wanted nothing to do with her, but he would need her to accomplish his goal. 

No matter the cost. 

~~~

Clara ran down the halls of the Golem Fortress, trying to make her way to Argus’ office as fast as her legs could carry her. Eventually she made it to her destination, panting heavy. 

She slammed open the doors to Argus. He sat at his desk, offended at this loud interruption. “Argus! This is  _ insane _ you  _ have  _ to see this! Now!”

“This had better be good, Clara.” He said with a venomous tint in his voice. 

“This is, I promise!” She was still unable to breathe properly from all the running she had just done. “Give me a second.. light headed.. can't breathe…”

After around 20 seconds of waiting, Argus finally got to see Clara do something other than pant in his office. Clara took out her tablet, which had just about all the information she needed on it. 

“Look at this! These are the details on Octavia’s body, and look at this! This is exactly what we’ve been working towards!” Clara pointed at the tablet aggressively. “She both is and  _ isn't  _ human at the same time! We’ve seen other aura ability users’ information but I, myself, have never seen anything even close to this! It's like a really close imitation of humanity! She could probably have children, but her genetics are something strange as well! She looks like her ethnicity is from the southern deserts but if you look at this, her genes are completely different!”

Argus’ eyes widened with intrigue. He stood up and clapped. “Good work, Clara. You've done a great job!”

Clara was awkwardly flustered. “O-Oh, gee. Sir, you really don't have to compliment me, I'm just doing my job y'know. Heh.” 

“No, you've done splendid. Please, try and learn what you can from our guest, and see how you can apply it to our experiments. I'm counting on you, dear friend.” Argus said, sitting back down. 

“Yes, sir!” She said gleefully. She immediately turned around and strode out of the room, ready to work more. 

Argus muttered to himself. 

“Perfect.”


	19. Golem Fortress IV

Octavia stared at the ceiling, reminiscing on how she even got to this point in her life. Her first memories came from the orphanage. Then her being taken in by her foster home. She stayed with her foster parents for years. Once she graduated, she moved out and into an apartment in Zuheimer. She lived there with Ace for a few weeks before being recruited by the SDA.

After that, her life got even messier than usual. But, she made friends with a few people she could trust. And that made her more happy than she would like to let on. She never had really any friends. Only time she did she was tricked by other girls at school into doing their homework for them.

She didn’t like people. They’re mean, revolting creatures who only care for their own gain. But as she believes that, 80 has been there for her. She helped keep her calm during the Excalibur fight. She could trust 80, right?

Once her mind got on the topic of trust, she remembered something. Jack.

Jack seemed kind enough, and her instincts didn’t tell her to distrust him. And so far, her instincts haven’t been wrong. Jack seemed like a simple, upfront man. His rant he yelled at her on the roof was sincere. She could tell that much. 

Jack had said something about society wanting to enslave her. She didn’t know much about society but she felt pretty enslaved just now. If only they had a way out of this hellhole.

Just then a thought shot through her head. This was a laboratory, right? Which meant there  _ had _ to be scalpels or some sort of knife. While Octavia was most certainly, she had an ace up her sleeve. Her ability.

Only problem was getting it to work properly. Octavia thought hard on what Jack had told her about aura abilities. They’re a part of our physical bodies, which means we should treat them not like a one-time-use magic spell, but like a hand or a leg. If she could learn to walk, she could learn to control a separate version of herself enough to slip a knife in her pocket.

Octavia closed her eyes and thought on the feeling of belonging. Whenever she thought of that emotion, she felt more connected to her ‘twin’. Octavia could feel a loose string that led to her other self. She pictured her twin standing next to her. She isn’t alone anymore

She opened her eyes and saw a carbon copy of herself standing above her. She felt relieved to see herself. Now, on to the plan.

~~~

Clara slammed the door open, startling Octavia. Octavia couldn’t look up to see her, but she could hear her quiet chuckle. Clara walked up to the paralyzed Octavia, grinning ear to ear. “Good news! You’re not useless!”

Octavia half tuned her out, she knew she was going to be injured more or some shit. Octavia felt like they should just get it over with already. “In fact, you are exactly what I have been looking for! You should be thankful you’re not trash! Otherwise you would’ve ended up with the rest of those people you saw on your way here.” Octavia would be way more worried if she had not taken the scalpel. Thankfully, Clara did not seem to notice its absence. 

Clara walked over to the computer panel, still talking to her. “Those guys actually account for a good amount of our revenue. In the pigsty that is the Clover Garden residential district, there are plenty who are unaccounted for by the government. We pick those people up and, well, we sell them.” 

Clara waltzed over to Octavia and leaned in front of her. “Not to worry, Octavia, your life has value. You will be fed and kept healthy, okay?” Octavia could feel the venom in Clara’s voice. She could tell her intentions were only for her own gain. In Octavia’s eyes, she was the real piece of garbage.

Clara left Octavia’s line of sight to go to some corner of her laboratory. She could hear static and radio noises. Clara spoke. “Tyran, I’m finished with Octavia. Please place her back in her cell. Thank you~!” 

“Hear that Octavia? You’re done for today, no more stabbing or anything.” Octavia didn’t feel particularly graced that she wouldn’t be stabbed anymore today. But, it was better than more stabbing, right?

After a few minutes of waiting, the door of the laboratory opened. Heavy footsteps that shook the floor could be heard.  **“Greetings, Clara. You requested me to take Octavia back to her cell, yes?”** Tyran asked politely.

“Yup! Thank you, again for helping me out during your busy schedule, Tyran!” She thanked the giant man. He responded with his usual politeness. They continued to banter on about their jobs and whatnot for a few minutes before Tyran finally took Octavia.

The cuffs that held her unmoving body were removed, and then new cuffs were affixed, much to her displeasure. Tyran picked her up by the cuffs again, straining her wrists. She could feel the bruises on her arms beginning to form.

Tyran haphazardly picked up Octavia from the chair she sat in and dragged her along.  **“Have a good day, Clara. If you need anything just let me know.”** Tyran told her.

“Cya Tyran!’ She said as both Tyran and Octavia exited the door. Octavia had  _ just _ forgotten the feeling of being dragged along the floor by a bioengineered human. It was very appreciated that she was allowed to have a refresher of her definite favorite feeling in the world.

~~~

After being dragged through the depressing halls of the Golem Fortress, Tyran had arrived at the door to Octavia and Jack’s cell. He opened it and pulled her in. Octavia could feel the poison that paralyzed her fading. Octavia’s fingertips began to wriggle in freedom. Even the small victories mattered to her.

As they entered the room, Jack’s bored face came into view. Tyran took the chain that Octavia’s cuffs were attached to and hooked it up to the wall. Tyran turned around to leave but suddenly stopped.

**“You are a good liar, Octavia.”** Tyran told her. Fear was sent like lightning through her nervous system.  **“But I will be confiscating that scalpel.”**

Tyran walked back up to Octavia, reaching into her pocket and finding a scalpel.  **“This belongs to Miss Clara. You should know better than to take things.”**

Tyran, once again, turned around. He stomped out of the room. The metal door shut harshly. Jack looked up at Octavia. “A scalpel, huh? Too bad it didn’t work out for you.” Jack was half teasing, half just wanting to get the hell out of here.

“No.”

“No?”

“It worked out for me.” Octavia said with confidence.

“Oh?” Jack was intrigued. “How so?”

“Well…”

~~~

_ Earlier _

Octavia’s twin walked noiselessly to a random scalpel in the laboratory, and picked it up. The mirror like figure walked back to Octavia, prepared to place it in her pocket. But first, the twin broke off the tip to the scalpel, and put it on the opposite pocket of the scalpel.

This way, even if they noticed, she would get the effect she wanted. That effect being something sharp. Octavia felt pretty smart about thinking this up, though she doesn’t usually toot her own horn.

The twin, after placing the objects in Octavia’s pants, started to diverge and break apart. Like there was a sort of static between Octavia and her twin. She disappeared into thin air, and suddenly, Clara entered the room.

~~~

“I have an extra piece of metal in my pocket that I broke off from the original scalpel. With this, I plan to cut open your mask, so you can use your ability.” Octavia said confidently.

“Nicely played Octavia.” Jack told her, proud. “With that I can teleport out of my shackles, then free us both. You ready?”

Octavia felt a guilt rise and weigh down her chest. “Just one problem..” Octavia said.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked. 

“I can’t reach my pocket chained up like this…” Octavia admitted, shame in her voice. Jack was not sure if he wanted to laugh or cry. Hell, why not both? Isn’t that healthy or some shit? He didn’t know.

“Well… it would be bad luck to try and break out this early. We wouldn’t be seen as geniuses, only as impatient pricks with nothing better to do than get arrested on purpose and try to break out of jail. Well, we aren’t in jail, but you know what I mean.”

“Yeah.”

~~~

“Alright, everyone. We have a set date for the raid.” Rusty told the office. 

“When?!” Lemon yelled.

“Slow down, Lemon. In just a few days, this raid will commence. This Monday, actually, is when we make our move. Please make sure you’re prepared.”

Miles spoke up. “Sir, don’t you think we should wait a bit to get more people to help us?”

Rusty smiled at his second in command’s thoughtfulness. “Usually, that would be the case. However, due to..  _ certain _ events transpiring, we have attained the full might of the police force’s most powerful squad, the Brass Squad.” Rusty’s face was stoic and focused, unlike his usual kind self. “I’m sure you have all heard of the exploits that squad has managed to pull off. Honestly, we could have no better ally.”

The SDA felt a bit more comfortable with the backing of the Brass Squad. If their missions were anything to go off of, they were the best of the best. One Brass Squad member, Hades, is famous for fighting someone with a rather powerful aura ability, one on one. She is the pinnacle of human strength, some say.

“Now that you all know the date, I doubt you have any more questions. You are all dismissed.” Rusty told everyone. Immediately, Lemon went downstairs to get a cup of coffee from Jo. Once he got down there, he noticed his friend, 80, seated down in a booth. She looked sad.

Of course, he sat across from her like any reasonable friend should. Without Octavia around, things were so quiet. Even though she never usually was loud or anything like it, she was like the base of a building. She held the small group of friends together.

Without her, it just fell apart. Lemon cursed his lack of social ability, otherwise he would be able to comfort 80. What was supposed to say? Sorry your best friend got taken in front of me while I was powerless to do anything? That will _ definitely  _ go over well.

80 spoke up. “Lemon, how is Ace doing? You’re the one who started taking care of him when this all started.”

Thank god.  _ She  _ started the conversation instead of him! How lucky he was!

“Oh, Ace? He’s been more ferocious with his training than ever.” Lemon replied.

“I can imagine. Losing someone like that isn’t easy.”

“Yeah…” Lemon felt awkward about the way 80 was talking. She was never usually this… this formal. 

“Listen, Lemon.. I want to apologize..”

Oh? “For what?”

“Well, when you asked me to fight you I outright declined you. I should have accepted your offer, instead of running away like a lil bitch baby.” Lemon was surprised to hear all this coming out of 80’s mouth. “Please, fight me.” 80 bowed.

Lemon had never been bowed to before until just now. It didn’t feel as high and mighty as he imagined it. Instead, he only felt awkward. “Y-yeah, of course, 80. Just promise me one thing.”

“What is it?” 80 asked, looking up from the bow.

“Go ez on me, please.” Lemon awkwardly smiled at her. 

80 smiled a tiny smile in response. “I dunno Lemon, I kinda wanna go tryhard mode on ya.” Lemon’s heart thawed at 80’s tiny smile. Mission accomplished, he had won. He had peaked, he made a woman smile.

Lemon felt a gentle pride in his heart, after helping his friend. Was this what it was like to have friends? If so, friends are nice.

  
  
  



	20. Golem Fortress V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ah, suffering

“You ready, Debby Douchebag?” 80 called out. She stood across from him in the training room, nonchalant and relaxed.

Lemon entered a fighting stance. “I was born ready, 80HD.” He knew that 80 was stronger than she let on. But how strong he didn't know. He had the disadvantage because he didn't know her ability at all.

80 was caught off guard but cackled at the comeback. “Alright, let's do this.”

She pointed directly at Lemon’s feet. In an instant, she vanished.

Lemon’s eyes widened and before he knew it, he was on the floor. He got a grip of his surroundings and saw 80 standing over him. 

She grinned. “Sorry for not telling you, Lem Lem, but my ability is teleportation to where I point.” 

“Fuck. No wonder it took less than a second to take me down... Hey, why didn't you tell me sooner?!”

“About what?” She asked innocently.

“About your ability, dipass!”

“Oh, y’know.. to fool your enemies you must first fool your friends!” She said, raising a finger up like she was a teacher.

“What the hell are you on? That doesn't even make sense!” Lemon yelled.

“Aw come on, I'm only messing with you.” She teased.

“Let's fight for real! Now that I know your ability, I’ll take you down!”

“Oh? Really~?”

“Yes. Really. Now get back to your spot and let's do this again.”

“Alrighty, fine by me.” 80 said, teleporting back to the starting position. Lemon stumbled up and got ready for her teleportation this time.

~~~

Lemon was demolished by 80, utterly crushed. He thought for some reason fighting her would be easy, but it escaped his mind that she was a fucking detective for the SDA. He understood he was kind of a dumbass but this was a new height for him.

“You ok, fruity tooty?” 80 asked.

Lemon only replied with a groan of pain. Despite being immortal, he still felt pain. He could still feel all the places she kicked in. Her teleportation was just too much for him.

All she did was point in two locations at once and it confused him. Her technique was polished and perfected. While on the other hand all he did was rely on his undying body. It was kinda pathetic to think about. Got his shit kicked in by 80HD and a knife.

He needed to get stronger. What was he doing, just messing around like this? Octavia needed saving.

80 smiled at his pain, as mean as that was. She was happy she was still strong, she hadn’t seen real combat for a month or so now. “Hey, debby douchebag, I’ll get you some coffee in return for being my debby punchingbag, heart emoji.”

Lemon deadpanned. “Please.”

~~~

Chains rattled across the hallways of the fortress. The footsteps that accompanied these chains belonged to a man with a metal face. His original name didn't matter to him. 

He did not concern himself with little things like names or ethics. For him, simply the satisfaction of experimentation was good enough. He wished. He was addicted, the constant progression of biomechanical technology. 

Golgo and Tyran both were crafted carefully and lovingly by him. A few may have had to be sacrificed in the process but in his eyes, it was well worth it. 

As he was striding, he noticed a smaller figure approaching him. 

“Ah, Clara. It is good to see you.” His raspy voice left his metal infused face like a newly hatched cockroach writhing out of its egg. 

Clara waved. “Oh, Clockwork, it's good to see you! I’ve got exciting news to share with you!” She cheered.

“Oh? What is it?” He asked. A smile fixed itself on his horrid face. 

“You remember the prisoners we recently captured, yes?” 

“But of course, how could I forget?”

“It turns out the blonde one isn't actually human! Well, she's almost human, she's like a really close imitation of humanity!”

“What?!” Clockwork bellowed. 

“I know right?! This is exactly the kind of stuff we’ve been working towards.”

Clockwork stood there, utterly dumbfounded. He needed to see the test results immediately. “Where are the test results, Clara?”

“Oh! I gottem right here. But! If you want more detailed results, come to lab C with me! I can show you all the interesting shit there!” She smiled. 

“Then by all means, take me there. Now.” He grunted. 

“Yes sir!” She happily obliged. 

~~~

Miyu twirled his short pink hair as he sat in his office. While he is an active detective for the SDA he also has the title of secretary. Meaning, he has to write all the reports before they're handed over to Rusty. From there, Rusty proofreads them and sends them to the main branch of the police force in Zuheimer. 

Miyu was bored. And he felt bad about it. Always before missions there was a certain kind of boredom that couldn't be replicated. A tense and anxious loneliness. One might think surely he should have gotten used to this by now. But you couldn't be more wrong. 

His role is as the healer of the team, and since he is so effective at that one job, he is the most important person in a fight. But on that opposite end, any deaths that happen always fall onto his guiltiness. He has more to lose than one would think a slave of the government would. 

A knock on the door. 

Miyu turned to the entrance and saw Miles entering. “Miles, nice to see you.”

Miles wore concern on his face. “Are you alright, Miyuzai?” 

Miyu laughed. He stood up to greet him. “Miyuzai? No need to be so formal around me, Mr. Miles Arthur.” Miyu jokingly said. He moved in and hugged Miles.

Miles looked down at the pink hair. “Are you really alright, Miyu? I know you get anxious before missions like these.” Miyu smiled somberly.

Miyu nestled his face deeper into Miles' shoulder. “Well.. you know how I am..”

“Hey.”

“Hmm?”

Miles pulled back from the hug. He took his hands and placed them on Miyu’s face. He brushed back the hair in front of Miyu’s other eye, revealing his heterochromia. Miyu blushed at his eyes being seen.

“Miles.. You know I don’t like it when you see that.” Miyu muttered.

“Why not? I think your eyes look beautiful.” Miles spoke to his partner.

“You may think they’re beautiful, but I don’t.” Miyu rushed to cover his blue eye with his long pink hair. He had been bullied for having heterochromia since a young age. Consequently, he never showed anyone his eyes. That is… except Miles. 

Miyu turned around and sat back down at his desk. “Aren’t you Rusty’s right hand man? Surely he has some work for you to do.” 

“So cold.” Miles fake complained. 

Miyu looked at the ground in silence for a few seconds. 

Miles joined him in this silence. 

“Miles.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m scared.”

~~~

Octavia awoke in a cold sweat. Her sight failed her and there was no light in the room. She could feel the handcuffs that held her down abraded wrists still gripping tightly. 

How much time had passed? 

She wasn't sure if it was day or night anymore. 

“Jack?” She whispered. She couldn't hear his breathing. Or could she? Were those noises someone wailing in the distance? 

No response. 

She remembered she hadn't taken her medication since she was kidnapped. What if her depression relapsed? What if she could never get out of here? 

Her breathing quickened. She struggled as she could to no avail. Panic. Panic. Panic. Panic. Her coarse breath struggled to leave her body. 

Tears welled up in her eyes and in an instant, rivers flowed. She wanted out. 

Her breathing was sharp and ecstatic. Pure anxiety flowed through her. She could feel the stress boil her stomach. Octavia’s head felt like a fire was being burnt inside of her. 

Octavia shrieked into the dark. 

She was alone. 


	21. Golem Fortress VI

6:45 AM Monday, May 8th, 2072

Day of the raid.

“How interesting.. Yes, how very interesting indeed.” Clockwork reeled back from the lab results on the monitor. “Clara, this is simply exquisite. We have discovered a whole new subspecies of human. What shall we name her?” He spoke excitedly. 

“Hmmm. Oh! I have an idea!!” She said, pointing her finger up. “How about Homo Sapien Octavius?” Clockwork smiled greatly. 

“Genius! Absolute genius! I love the name, Clara!” He spouted. Clara blushed in response. She covered her face in her hands. 

“O-Oh gee, gosh, I’m not  _ that _ cool.” She replied, stuttering. 

“Nonsense!” The 7 foot biomechanical cyborg replied. “You are perfect, Ms. Clara. I could not ask for a better subordinate.”

“Uhh, I, well—” She managed to mutter before being interrupted. 

“Come, Clara! We must see to our subjects immediately! I need to learn more about our Octavius specimen! Oh and I have some exciting experiments for the other one in mind as well. Ooh! How exciting~” The old man cheered. Clara followed him out of the lab’s doors. 

“Experiments for the other one?”

“Yes, Octavia proved so incredible, I almost forgot about my excitement to optimize that petty thief’s body.” 

“I see.” 

“Besides it would seem Octavia belongs to the same organization  _ she _ does. I wonder how she will react to the other materials.”

“I do, too.” Clara replied. 

~~~

“We’re moving out.” Miles said, standing next to the doorway of the training room. Lemon, 80 and Ace all turned towards the blond. 

Immediately, Lemon and 80 started walking towards him. 

“Are you two prepared?” Miles asked. 

“You think I’m not?” Lemon replied. 

“Good. And you?” He looked at 80.

“Is that a serious question?” 80 responded without her usual playfulness. 

“Rusty wants us in the new van asap. Let's go.”

Ace stood behind and watched them sprint up the stairs. He could not help but feel helplessness. 

He was sick of it. 

~~~

“As I’m sure you all know, our objective is mainly the rescue of Octavia.” Rusty said, crouched forward in the back of the brand new van they received from the government. “But we have a few others as well.”

“As far as I’m concerned, saving her is the only thing to be worried about.” Lemon said. 

Miles sighed. “You’re a detective now, Lemon. This is your job. Unless, of course, you wish to be imprisoned for your ability.” 

“Tch. Fine. What’re the other objectives?” Lemon asked. 

“Put simply, we need to capture the Heyline family members, Lavender and Argus Heyline. Arresting those we can is also a necessity. Obviously, they aren't going to be so reasonable when it comes to being arrested. We are authorized to use lethal force if necessary.”

The moral implications of this kind of mission set in for 80 and Lemon. This was not a simple arresting unruly gangs kind of mission. This was a raid, and there were going to be deaths. 

Lemon sighed.

He looked over and saw 80, who was lost in a world of her own. She looked soulless. Her hands and legs were all shaking with anxiety. Worried, he nudged her. 

80 flinched in response to Lemon. 

“Hey parkinson’s, you alright?” Lemon asked. 

“Sorry... just anxious.” 80 quietly replied. 

“Hey, don't worry so hard. I give you the Lemon seal of approval not to worry. It isn't often you have someone literally unkillable on your side after all.” He said with a clearly fake smirk and 2 pounds of sarcasm. 

“Heh, yeah.” She replied, pretending her anxiety had been soothed. 

~~~

The SDA detectives stood in the middle of the crowded debriefing hall of the Brass Squad’s headquarters. Squad members were strewn about chatting with each other while those who were in the SDA stood there rather awkwardly. They were not used to such big gatherings. 

Out of the crowd a red haired man appeared to the SDA with a gentle smile on his face. 

“It’s nice to see you again, Rusty.” Apollo said. Rusty smiled in return. 

“It’s nice to see you as well Apollo. A shame it is under these circumstances.” He said with a sad glint in his eyes. 

Every SDA detective had congregated in the Brass Squad’s headquarters. In the gargantuan Police Headquarters was the Brass Squad’s headquarters. Most of it was reserved for the grunts. They were vast in number so it acted more like an army base than a police station. The remainder of the area was reserved purely for Brass Squad’s special operatives. 

These “special operatives” had the opportunity to name themselves after different gods and goddesses from mythologies across the world. These names were one of a kind, unique to only the special operative who earned it. 

They don't have any aura abilities of any kind. Merely an expert understanding in their profession. To earn the rank of special operative, they had to be a part of the Brass Squad for 4 years at least and prove themselves worthy. 

Due to their extremely dangerous job, hardly anyone gained that rank. 

“I hardly call it a shame.” Apollo replied. 

“What do you mean?” Rusty asked. 

“We can finally get rid of them, Rusty.” Apollo said, a little too much bloodlust in his eyes. Rusty felt uncomfortable with Apollo's words. 

“Uh, yeah, I guess you’re right.” Rusty fake smiled. 

A shout came from the middle of the room. “Everyone,

please line up and prepare for the debriefing!” a certain blue haired Athena yelled. 

Those of the SDA were not aware of what was happening, but suddenly all the squad members had moved together into a tight formation, all with their arms at their sides and uniforms fixed. All members of the SDA were forced into the corner of the room from all of the movement. 

“Well, I’ll talk to you later. My job comes first.” Apollo flashed a gentle smile. “Cya.” He waved. 

“Bye.” Rusty said. 

In the hall there was a stage, upon which were the special operatives. Apollo went up to join them. Rusty couldn't see Max anywhere. 

All of the operatives were decked in their own special uniform, which consisted of black overcoats that went down to their knees. The overcoats had a gold lining to them. They also all wore a military cap, signifying their higher rank. 

Athena was at center stage, in front of all the other members. She had her arms behind her back, and held herself upright in a stance that radiated power. 

“Everyone! I expect nothing but your best performance today! All who have come here today minus the SDA have all received their pair assignment prior to this. Those assigned to pairs A through M will be supporting the SDA in their breach of the fortress, while the rest will be supporting us operatives. Please report to Vulcan in the armory to receive your equipment for today. Afterwards, report to the special operative in charge of your pairing group. If you’re with the SDA, just report to Rusty. Dismissed.” Athena spoke. 

“Wow, ain’t she concise.” Lemon said, half joking. 

“I’m not sure if that was a joke or not, but try saying everything she said just now without tripping over your words. I’ll even give you money if you can.” Miles deadpanned in response. 

Lemon kept quiet. 

“That’s what I thought.”

“We should get moving to the armory, we need to equip ourselves for today.” Rusty said. 

“Lead the way captain~” Miyu said cheerfully. 

~~~

To the grunts of the Brass Squad, the SDA was a bit of an oddity. They were mysterious, ludicrously powerful, and worst of all, they weren't in uniform. 

They were labeled as both an ally and as a potential enemy. That was the fate of those with aura abilities. 

“Hey Amaia, doesn't that guy look kinda scary?” a certain Brass Squad grunt asked. 

“Who looks scary, Riley?” Another replied. 

“That one dude, the guy with the bandages all the way up to his neck. He looks all creepy.” She said, cringing. 

“Hmm. I wouldn't say he’s scary, sure, he might be intimidating but calling him scary is a bit far. Don’t you think? We don't even know the guy.” She reasoned. 

“Don’t even know who?” Hades’ voice popped in. 

“That guy right over the-” Amaia almost shrieked. She was in the presence of  _ the  _ Hades. She was the most infamous member of the squad, having the highest tendency for fighting out of anyone there. Riley and Amaia were frozen in fear. 

“The- uh, um, the guy with all the bandages! He’s in the SDA, just over there.” Amaia pointed towards the SDA. 

Hades smiled at Amaia without a care in the world. “Really?? He looks really strong if anything!”

“I uh-” and before she knew it, Hades had already left Amaia’s vicinity. Amaia and Riley’s muscles all finally relaxed, almost collapsing after that encounter. 

“Holy shit.” Riley said. “I forgot we have our own psychos.” 

“Yeah, no kidding.”

~~~

Hades walked up to the SDA’s group. “Excuse me!”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Miles felt annoyance. “Oh goddammit.” he muttered. 

Rusty turned to the girl. “Hello Hades, it’s nice to see you again.” He greeted her. 

“Yeah yeah, you too. What's your name??” She said to Lemon. Her ignoring of Rusty tilted him ever so slightly. Miles was trying his best to not say a word. 

Lemon was confused. “Uh, my name’s Lemon.”

“Lemon! Cool, wanna fight??” Hades asked enthusiastically. 

“I’m sorry what?” Lemon was dumbfounded. 

“Hades!” A shout came from the distance. 

“Ah fuck.” Hades swore. 

Athena approached them rapidly with a disgruntled look on her face. “Hades, how many times have I told you  _ not _ to pick fights with the SDA, they are our  _ allies _ !”

“But Athena, they look so strong!” Hades pouted. 

“No buts! Now come with me, Max wants to meet with us.” Athena scolded her. 

“Ugh, fine.” Hades groaned. 

Athena approached the SDA and bowed. “I’m so sorry for her behavior. Now, if you’ll excuse us.” Athena immediately grabbed Hades by the collar and dragged her along, much to the dismay of a protesting Hades. 

After they left, an awkward silence fell on the group. 

“What.. what just happened?” Lemon asked. 

“That was Hades, she is one of the special operatives of the Brass Squad. She is also extremely dangerous. I wouldn't recommend fighting her.” Miles said. 

“All she cares about is fighting, that girl. I’ve been called to patch her up quite a few times at this point. I’m assuming today will be no different.” Miyu sighed, placing a hand on his cheek. 

“Huh.” Lemon huffed. 

80 kept quiet. 

~~~

Vulcan finally finished handing out all the weapons and armor to the grunts of the Brass Squad. He sighed after a couple girls kept trying to chat him up about the armor. It seemed they didn’t get the memo that he didn’t exactly like speaking. 

“Vulcan.” A voice called his name. 

It was Persephone. He listened to see what they wanted. 

“Um, could you pretty please get me my special pistol? I think Max actually wants me fighting this time and I really need the firepower.” Persephone pleaded while making a praying sign with their hands. 

Vulcan nodded in response, and began to dig through the pile of specialty weapons he had. He pulled out a strange looking pistol. He handed the pistol to Persephone carefully. 

“Thankies, Vulcan!” Persephone thanked Vulcan. 

“Ah, excuse me ma’am.” A voice came from behind Persephone. 

Persephone turned around to find a grunt. The grunt, upon looking at their face, got confused. “Uh, sir? I’m sorry, not sure which gender you are.”

“Ah, I’m neither.” Persephone answered, forcing a smile on their face. 

“Neither? That doesn't really make sense.” Persephone was disheartened in response. 

“Kid.” Vulcan spoke. Both Persephone and the grunt were surprised. “I’ve made guns that have essentially their own gravity fields. Someone in the SDA is immortal.”

“Huh?” The grunt said. 

Vulcan sighed. 

A new voice entered the conversation. “He means, you being worried about gender is ridiculous. I agree.” Captain Max stated. 

“C-Captain! Uh, sorry sir-” 

“I don't care for what you have to say. But know this. Mess with my right hand again and I’ll shove Vulcan’s arsenal so far up your ass you’ll only shit bullets for a month. How does that sound?” Max said with clear anger in his voice. 

“Understood sir!” The grunt said with fear clearly audible. 

A weird silence fell over the four, as Max death stared the grunt dead. This continued until a certain few words left Max’s mouth. 

“Get the fuck outta my sight.” He growled. 

“Yes sir!” The grunt said before speed walking out of the armory at speeds not thought possible. 

Persephone walked up to Max. “Captain, you really shouldn't have-”

“You’re my right hand, Persephone. Any disrespect to my top officer is disrespect to me.”

“Captain..” Persephone said, touched by his words. 

“Mhm.” Vulcan muttered, nodding. 

~~~

A certain grunt who looked like he saw a gengar was walking past the SDA at high speeds as they were heading towards the armory. 

“What’s his problem?” Lemon asked. 

“He’s most likely just scared about the upcoming battle. A lot of grunts tend to get like this.” Miyu commented. 

“Makes sense.”

As they were walking, Lemon noticed that once again, 80 was visibly shaking in fear. He frowned a bit. 

“Hey, 80.”

80 looked up, she looked like she was about to cry. 

“Everything will be alright, okay? I- no,  _ we _ got this.”

“Mhm.” 80 replied.

His words didn't seem too effective. Unfortunately for Lemon, he had no experience with this kinda stuff. He scratched his head, trying to think about how he could maybe help her, but he came up with nothing. 

He noticed a tear fell from 80’s eye, which made his heart hurt worse. He swore internally at the sight. 

He walked over to Miyu and took him aside. “Hey, I need to talk to Miyu for a bit. You all go on ahead.” 

“Don’t take long.” Miles replied. After they were a bit away, Lemon continued. 

“Miyu, is there anything you can do to help her?”

“Apologies, Lemon, but I can only heal physical ailments. Psychological scars aren't able to be affected by my ability.”

“Psychological scars?”

“I’m sure she will tell you when she feels comfortable, but it’s best not to pry about it for now.”

“Fuck, alright.”

“We should catch up with the others.”

“Mhm.”

~~~

Heavy footsteps approached the door. Octavia froze in fear, recognizing them as one of the two metal giant's presence. 

The door opened and Tyran crouched to get through the doorway. His intimidating stature drove fear through Octavia’s body. 

“ **Good morning, you two. I’m here to retrieve the thief. Please do not resist.”**

As he said that, Tyran walked over to Jack and grabbed him by the torso. Jack was visibly in pain from the titan’s grip. Then with a sudden yank, Jack was pulled from the wall. Octavia could hear his bones snapping from being pulled out of the handcuffs. Tears welled up in her eyes. 

Jack screamed in pain. As soon as his arms were free, he tried to kick himself free, to which he succeeded. After kicking free from Tyran’s grasp, he beelined towards Octavia. He wanted the scalpel fragment in her pocket. 

But his glimpse of hope was cut short, as Tyran appeared in front of him suddenly, and grabbed him by the left arm. 

“ **Such behavior is unacceptable.** ” Tyran spoke before crushing Jack’s left arm until it was a bloody mess. The pain was enough to send him into shock. 

What was left of his arm fell off, and now Jack only had a right arm. 

Tyran turned to Octavia. 

“ **Let this be an example for you of what happens if you try to escape.** ” Tyran said while hauling Jack over his shoulder. 

“ **Have a pleasant morning, Octavia. I will be departing now.** ”

Tyran all too quickly and all too slowly left the room, shutting the door behind him. The silence and horror consumed Octavia. Tears started streaming down her face. 

When would this nightmare end?

Her mental stability grew worse and worse, and eventually, she fainted. 

~~~

“Hey Vulcan, we’re here for the equipment we were told to get.” Rusty said. 

Vulcan looked and saw most of the SDA behind Rusty. He nodded and motioned for them to come closer. He gave Rusty a pistol, which was clearly custom made to withstand the stupidly high temperatures Rusty could output. 

“Thanks.”

Next up in line was Miles, who was given body armor which could fit underneath his suit jacket. He swiftly removed his jacket and put on the body armor, all while Miyu watched intently. 

Vulcan nodded in satisfaction to Miles. He wasn’t granted a weapon since Miles himself was quite the weapon with his missiles. 

After Miles was Miyu, who was also given body armor, though it didn't mean much since Miyu could just heal himself. Miyu was also given a Desert Eagle, just in case anyone would get too close to him. 

Miyu politely bowed and thanked Vulcan. 

80 approached Vulcan and, seeing the sadness in her eyes, he motioned for her to come closer. She did as he motioned and he gave her an unexpected hug. Afterwards, he patted her head and handed her a submachine gun. He also gave her considerably more body armor than the others got. Vulcan gave her a thumbs up and motioned for Lemon. 

Vulcan had never met Lemon before, and held his hand to his chin, thinking what he should give him. From what he knew, Lemon was immortal so no amount of bullets would stop him, so body armor wasn't an issue. He thought about giving him some sort of gun but he knew that since Lemon would inevitably be at the front lines, his guns would probably get blown to bits along with him. 

“Um.” Lemon spoke up. “Do you have any kind of blade? I’m good with those.”

Vulcan looked at him, and Lemon could see the light bulb in his head flickering on. Vulcan held his hand up as if to say he needed a moment. Vulcan stepped into the back of his armory’s stash and started digging. 

Lemon got anxious after 30 seconds of watching Vulcan on the floor digging through all sorts of lethality. After a considerable time had passed, Vulcan pulled out multiple knives and a weirdly shaped sword. It looked like a cleaver that was just over half a meter long. 

“Uh.” Lemon wasn’t sure about the cleaver sword thing. Was this thing even viable? 

Vulca handed it to him and in an instant, Lemon fell in love. It had enough length to have a bit of range, but not enough to become unwieldy. It was heavy enough to break through armor easy, but not enough to weigh him down. The knives felt incredible in his hands too. 

Vulcan, once again, had a very satisfied customer. 

“Thank you for the gear, Vulcan.” Rusty smiled. 

Vulcan gave a thumbs up in response. Though his face was tired and his mouth didn’t move, a smile showed in his eyes. 

Rusty turned around to the SDA detectives. “Alright, let’s get going. It’s time for this raid to start.”

~~~

The van ride was stressful even for Lemon. He wasn't used to this kind of pressure. He had been in stressful situations, for sure, but this slowly building anxiety was eating away at him like a certain shonen protagonist eats ramen bowls. 

80’s anxiety had turned quiet and subtle, she wasn't saying a word. And she wasn’t shaking like she was earlier. Lemon had complete faith in her abilities, but he couldn't help but worry about her. 

He looked over to Rusty, who had his eyes closed. He was meditating. Whether he was doing it to calm down or to focus, he didn’t know. From what he heard about the incident that got Lemon to join up in the first place, Rusty was no slouch when it came to fighting. 

Lemon proceeded to look at Miles. Miles kind of intimidated him, seeing at how he was sort of an opposite to him. He was strict, followed his own discipline and kept himself and others in line. He didn't know his ability, but if it was anything as powerful as it was implied by Vulcan outright not giving him a weapon, he was a little bit scared. 

Miyu seemed to be mostly just a sort of medic for the team, which was by no means bad. And his random sadistic tendencies kind of spooked Lemon. As immortal as he was, being cut up was not on the to do list. 

Lemon felt the van’s movement stop. This was it.

“We’re here.” Miyu said. 

“Miles, prepare to breach the east entrance.” Rusty ordered. 

“Yes sir.” He replied and immediately climbed into the back of the van along with Lemon, 80 and Rusty. 

“Miyu, contact Max and tell him we’re ready for infiltration.”

“Yessir.” He said before picking up a walkie talkie. “Max, we’re ready.” Miyu said. 

Over the radio, Lemon could hear Max’s response. 

“Hold your position, our forces are still making their way into position.” Max replied. 

“Roger.” Miyu said. 

~~~

Ace stumbled along the floors of the SDA’s office. He didn’t like the emptiness of the office, nor was he used to it. He wanted nothing more than to be by Octavia’s side at the moment. 

He wandered over to Rusty’s desk and climbed up onto the seat. He saw the view of the office the way Rusty viewed it. But this didn’t make Ace feel any better. 

Ace hung his head low, tired and sad. Octavia could be hurting right now, he thought to himself. She could be bleeding or crying or worse. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Roxy asked. Ace was startled at her appearance. He immediately hopped off the chair and bowed in apology. 

“No, not like that. I mean what the hell are you doing  _ here _ ?”

What?

“Your master is out there and needs help doesn't she? What the hell are you doing?”

She was right. What  _ was _ he doing? Was his playfulness going to distract him from the fact that his one and only partner needed help? No. No amount of temporary countermeasures could heal the pain he was feeling. 

He immediately ran to the exit of the office.

“Wait.”

Ace looked back at Roxy and saw a certain device in her hands.

“You might need this.”

Ace’s eyes widened.

~~~ 

“We’re in position, Captain.” Athena said into her walkie talkie. 

Athena stood in a van along with 6 other officers. Riley and Amaia were among them. Riley was trembling in her shoes while Amaia took deep breaths. 

The anxiety of this raid was catching up to everyone. Even Athena found herself biting on her lip in nervousness. 

She wondered what kind of mess Hades would make that she would inevitably have to clean up. 

Athena sighed in annoyance at the mere thought of her. 

“We’re ready when you are, Captain.” She said. 

Max stood in a special van made for collecting information and being a mobile command center for raids. 

“Alright…” Max took a deep breath. 

“All forces move in!”

~~~

“Isn't he annoying, Golgo?” Lavender asked while aiming down her cue stick. She took her shot and successfully caused the billiard balls to fall into the hole. 

“ **Isn’t who annoying, my lady?** ” Golgo replied while watching Lavender aim once again. She succeeded her shot yet again. The two were in a dark, moody room with only soft orange lighting. 

“Argus, he always demands us to move to his every need and want, like he has some big plan no one else fuckin’ knows. It’s so damn annoying.” She skillfully made her next shot, not even letting him have a turn. 

“ **I understand your frustrations, my lady, but you must remember that he has our family’s well being at heart. He cares for you as I do.** ” He reasoned. 

“These days, I don't know anymore.” In her anger, she shot the cue ball towards one of the billiard balls, which went in, but the cue ball continued and hit yet another one in. “I mean, what if he doesn't care about me anymore?”

“ **My lady, I assure you, he most definitely cares. But, even if he didn’t, know that I will always care for you.** ” Golgo said tenderly.

Lavender shot the 8 ball into the hole with ease. “Thanks Golgo, and good game.”

“ **My lady, I had not a single turn.** ” He replied. 

“Huh, I wonder why that is.” She said sarcastically.

Suddenly, a message resounded over the intercom system. “ _ Lavender, Golgo, I need you both ready. We’re about to be under attack. _ ” 

“Ugh, dammit. See what I mean?” Lavender complained. 

“ **Asking you not to help out would be weird too, would it not?** ”

“Yeah but like, can’t he ask nicer?” She said, preparing herself for battle. 

“ **Maybe so.** ” Golgo replied. 

~~~

“All forces move in!” the voice from Miyu’s walkie talkie shouted. 

“Miles, prepare to fire.” Rusty ordered. 

“You don’t need to tell me twice.” Miles said grimly. 

Rusty threw open the side door of the van. Miles kneeled down on one knee and pointed both of his arms toward the entrance, palms outwards. The metal silos on his hands opened up, prepared for the assault. 

“Everyone, cover your ears!” Rusty yelled. Immediately, everyone except Miles covered their ears. Lemon was a little late on the order but did it as soon as he registered it. 

“This is for Shell, you bastards.” Miles muttered with unbridled rage. 

“Fire!” Rusty ordered. 

In an instant, at least twenty rockets spewed out of Miles’ silos with flame bursting as they exited. Lemon watched from behind Miles as the eastern entrance was massacred with missiles. A cacophony of explosions assaulted everyone's ears and as soon as Miles stopped firing the missiles, Lemon could see his silos spewing smoke like a gun. 

“Move in!” Rusty yelled, and everyone followed him. 

One by one they filed out of the van. Rusty immediately brought out his fire bird and held in front of him like a shield. 

“Everyone behind me!” Rusty ordered with ferocity. All members of the SDA immediately stood behind his gargantuan flaming bird. As soon as Rusty saw that everyone was behind him, they began to walk ever so slowly towards the entrance. 

The punctuality in their footsteps made it obvious that they meant business. The debris from the explosion acted as a sort of smoke screen for them. 

One by one the detectives tread through the gaping hole Miles’ missiles had made, stepping on rubble and broken glass. As soon as they passed the smoke, Lemon could immediately see many armed members of the Heyline mafia, all pointing their guns. 

“What a warm welcome.” Lemon said with no sarcasm whatsoever. 

And the guns started ripping holes in the air. 

~~~

“Damn, there's so many of them.” Athena swore under her breath. She was standing behind a pillar in the southern entrance, taking cover from the many hailing bullets. 

She watched as her comrades slowly inched their way through, firing bullet after bullet at the enemy. 

“Coming through!” A familiar voice rang out from behind. Immediately, Athena could feel her brain cells dying in response to Hades’ voice. 

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” She swore. She looked and saw Hades, whose face was full of glee as she charged directly towards the fire fight with two submachine guns in her arms. 

“Hades! Sto-” but before Athena could stop her, Hades was already well past her, opening fire on each and every insurgent she could see. 

One by one, they dropped like flies. Riddled with bullets, the insurgents dropped to the floor. The ones who weren't shot up yet looked at Hades with fear in their eyes. 

One screamed and another yelled “Fire!” 

As soon as the order was given, they all pointed their guns at Hades and began firing. But Hades lifted up one of the already killed insurgents and used his body as a shield. 

Athena watched this all with horror. As Hades was buying them time, however, this was a chance she couldn't let go to waste. 

“Move in!” She yelled. The Brass Squad members did not waste their time. Athena sprinted forward, moving up their line. She aimed her rifle and carefully fired at those shooting at- and missing- Hades. 

Athena was distracted by a particular cry from behind her. She turned and saw a particular member, Amaia, crying at the now killed Riley. 

Athena bit her lip hard enough it bled. 

~~~

Lemon was impressed. He watched Rusty’s flaming bird incinerate every bullet that threatened to rip them apart with ease. 

“Lemon, move in, I need you to make a big distraction.” Rusty said. Lemon could hardly hear it from the sound of the guns firing on them. 

“Alrighty.” He replied. Immediately, with his cleaver, he charged straight towards them. As soon as he left the bird's wall of protection, he was riddled with bullets. 

First his left arm came off, then his head. During the bloody explosion, he only thought of how much of a pain it was. 

The insurgents looked at Lemon’s corpse with confusion. Why did he run out like that? But slowly they noticed the slightest movement in the corpse. 

Lemon’s left arm pulled itself back to his body. He stood back up, headless. He walked over to his head and picked it up, while the enemy was frozen in fear. 

“Damn, hollow points huh? These bastards sure don’t know how to hold back.” Lemon muttered while placing his head back on. 

Every mafia member looked at Lemon like they had just seen a ghost. Some trembled in their pants while others couldn't move outright. 

“What a pain.” He said nonchalantly. 

“Kill him!” they screamed. But the bullets had no effect on Lemon now. His indefinite healing was at max power, and to everyone else, it looked like the bullets passed right through him. 

He picked the cleaver back up and began to charge towards the enemy. One particular mobster was unfortunate enough to be in Lemon’s range. He fired at him but swiftly, Lemon swung the cleaver and decapitated the unfortunate soul. 

“Who’s next?”

~~~

“Sir, we have a malfunction in the prison cell’s hardware! All the prisoners have escaped!”

“How annoying.” Argus replied. “Though, this may actually help us.”

“What?”

“Nothing a grunt like yourself should be worried about.” Argus told him. “Get back to work.”

“Yes sir!” he saluted and immediately left the office to return to his duties. 

Argus, now in his silent office, leaned back in his chair, thinking about what his next move should be. He rubbed his face with his hands, slightly stressed. 

“ **Rubbing your face like that isn’t good for your health, Argus.** ” a voice similar to the metal titans said. 

Argus looked up to see a tall, womanly figure with the same metal face Golgo and Tyran had. “I don’t need you telling me that. Though, I appreciate the concern, Echo.”

“ **My only concern is you, my liege.** ” she said. Argus smiled in response. 

“Echo, could you tell your brothers to prepare for serious combat? It seems we’re dealing with some rather dangerous opponents today.” 

“ **Right away, sir.** ”

“Good. And tell Golgo to tell Lavender to bring out her new experimental weapon? This would prove to be an excellent situation for her to test it out.”

“ **Of course.** ”

“Thank you.”

~~~ 

While Lemon was busy cutting up the mafioso, 80 pointed behind the enemy lines he was distracting. She suddenly teleported behind them all with a submachine gun at the ready. As soon as she registered the closest targets, she opened fire, incapacitating them. 

With that, that was the last of the insurgents in the eastern entrance down. Rusty pulled out his walkie talkie and spoke into it. “Teams, come in here and arrest them. Handcuff even the injured, Miyu will heal them.”

And with that, Miyu began to heal the unconscious criminals. He even healed the decapitated person from Lemon’s rampage. Luckily, he wasn’t decapitated for long enough to truly be dead. 

“Miyu, the one that got decapitated, hold onto him. We’re gonna interrogate him.” Rusty said. Slowly, Brass Squad members poured in and, with astonished looks, saw the massacre the SDA caused. 

They immediately got to work, handcuffing everyone they could. 

“Lemon, you're more proficient with that than I thought you’d be.” Miles said. 

Lemon turned to Miles. “I had experience with this kind of thing growing up. After all, I’ve been homeless since forever now. Fighting on the streets here ain’t all that uncommon.”

“So it would seem.” Miles said. 

Lemon looked over and saw a completely silent 80.  _ Psychological scars, huh? That would imply that it has something to do with this dump.  _ Lemon thought. 

Rusty stepped forward. “Let’s set up base and contact the other breaching team. They may need our help.”

A new voice entered the fray. “We’re not that incompetent, Rusty.” Max said, walking towards them. 

“Never said you were.” Rusty replied. “You cleaned house over there?”

Max shrugged. “More or less. We just need Miyu to get to healing the fallen.”

Rusty turned towards the crouching Miyu. “You almost done with these guys?” Rusty asked. 

“Almost, sir. I’ll get right to work over there as soon as I can.” Miyu answered, focused on his task. 

“Good work.”

~~~

Octavia woke up in a daze. She was in her cell, but the room was empty. She could see congealed blood on the floor, and was reminded of what had happened beforehand. 

She covered her face in her hands out of instinctive response to the unpleasant memory. But as soon as she did, she noticed her cuffs were completely gone. All she saw was a fine metal dust on the floor. 

“What the hell..?” Octavia muttered. She looked around the empty room for any signs of anyone or any cameras, but she couldn't see a thing. She went over to the doorway that Tyran had used and noticed that it was unlocked. 

She slowly pushed on it, and saw a long, dark hallway. It was completely empty, no signs of any life anywhere. This could be her chance of escaping, though. 

After lamenting for a few minutes on the possibility of escape and the high risk of being ripped apart, she weighed that she needed to get the hell out of here. 

Wherever here was, anyway. 

So she walked forward. Unaware of the dangers ahead. 

As she strode through the halls with anxiety, she noticed the cells that had once kept hundreds of people completely empty. She could see stains of blood around, but not a single person. 

The smell of blood hung heavy in the air, threatening Octavia to vomit. She had to breathe deep in order to calm down, but her shaky breath only furthered the nervosity. 

She stepped forward faster and faster, but she didn't find a single human being. She thought for a second she was in hell. No, if there was any place on this earth that could be called hell, it was definitely here. 

The only noises she could hear were her own breathing, footsteps and a whirring in the distance from some sort of machine. 

The reality of this place was as clear as day. She would die if she was not careful. 

She kept moving forward. 

~~~

“Captain, I’ve finished healing everyone I could on your side.” Miyu told Max. 

“Good work. We need to investigate how to get to the lower levels. Rusty, you got anyone in mind about who to interrogate?” Max asked him. 

“Actually, I do. Miyu, could you bring the guy I told you about?” 

“Right away.” Miyu immediately left them. 

“Did I miss anything important?” Persephone asked, walking towards Max and Rusty. 

“Only the entire fight.” Max said. 

“Pssh, well, Captain, you know I’m not  _ that _ much of a fighter.” Persephone replied, rolling their eyes. 

Max sighed. “Whatever, I need you for the next tasks anyway. So I’ll work you then.”

Persephone was slightly disappointed at their fate of being worked. 

“Rusty, I brought him.” Miyu said, arriving on the scene while dragging a body behind him. 

“Alright, good, wake him up.”

“Yes sir!” Miyu said a little too cheerfully. He crouched over the body and in a single touch, the grunt woke up with a jolt. 

He looked up and saw Miyu, Rusty, Max and Persephone. “What the hell.. Am I dead?”

Miyu laughed. “Hah, no. You’re perfectly a-okay. I healed you after your head got chopped off, lucky you huh?”

The grunt looked at him with terror in his eyes. Miyu continued. “Listen, we need to know how to descend further here, do you have any ideas on how to do that?” 

“I uh, give me a second, sorry.” The grunt replied. Miyu, slightly annoyed, tapped him again. 

“Congratulations, I gave you THE polio! Tell us how to get down.  **Now.** ”

“Alright! Alright! I’ll tell you!”

After a few minutes of the grunt freaking out and Miyu’s sadistic tendencies showing, they got the info they needed and Miyu took away all ailments he gave to the grunt. 

“Alright, I want Lemon and 80 with a good amount of my men heading down. They make a good vanguard.” Max said. 

“Alrighty. Lemme get them prepped.” Rusty said before walking over to Lemon and 80. 

Max turned back towards the entrance he came from, he was going to get said men ready. 

~~~

In the distance, Octavia heard footsteps. She strained her eyes and saw a figure passing through hallways for a split second. It was only for a moment but Octavia swore she recognized that figure as someone familiar. 

She sprinted down the hallway to see who it was, but when she got to the intersected hallway the figure passed through, she saw no one was there. 

She slowly made her way through the marble maze, a drop of sweat rolling down her temple. She could no longer hear any footsteps in the distance, only the humming from a machine above. What was that, anyway?

What kind of machine would need to be that loud that she could hear its constant presence after almost a mile of stumbling around? Everything about this place unnerved her. 

She was tired. She was scared. She just wanted to go home to Ace. 

But reality wasn't nice enough for that. She just wanted to be in the presence of her friends again. 

Octavia leaned against the wall of the hallway and sat down, curling up into a ball. 

“80…” she muttered softly and longingly. 

Why did she deserve this? Was it because she had an aura ability? What did she do wrong?

She looked up at the ceiling, defeated. Octavia let out a long, winded sigh. 

And then she saw her. Just down the hallway, looking at her. A girlish, short figure with long and fluffy brown hair. A familiar stature Octavia had gotten used to at this point. 

But after this, that was a sight for sore eyes. But something was wrong. The figure seemed nervous. 

Octavia stood up and strained her eyes. 

“80..?”

~~~

“Ugh, this is a pain.” Lavender complained with her new test weapon in her hands. She and Golgo were walking down the hallways of Golem Fortress, getting into attack positions at Argus’ orders. 

“ **Pain it may be, this is a job that needs doing.** ” Golgo’s deep voice said. 

“Yeah, I knowww.” Lavender replied. 

“ **Lavender, wait.** ” Golgo stopped her. 

“Huh?” She turned around, confused. 

“ **It would seem we are at the point we were told to meet at. We must wait here for further instructions.** ” He told her. She groaned. 

“Fine, let’s get this over with.” She said. 

She whipped out her backpack, and poured out what looked like billiard balls onto the floor. But they were different, instead they were all made of metal. 

She touched all of them and they began to float upwards into the air. She pulled out her special cue stick and got ready. 

Golgo simply stood there. For he was always ready. 

“Hey Argus, we’re ready.” Lavender said into her comms device. 

“ _Good._ _Wait for my order._ ” Argus replied. 

“ **Yes sir.** ” Golgo answered. 

After a few minutes of waiting, Lavender finally heard Argus’ voice once again. 

“ _ Echo, flip the switch. _ ” Argus’ voice came over the intercom.

“ **_Yes sir._ ** ” Echo replied. Lavender and Golgo sat tensely, awaiting the enemy. 

In an instant, the ceiling in front of Lavender and Golgo started to give away. Argus’ voice once again rang from the intercom. 

“ _ Lavender, dear sister, please fire your armaments at the ceiling. _ ” He pleaded with a hint of sarcasm. 

Silently, Lavender aimed at the ceiling with her cue stick. And then suddenly she-

~~~

“Is everyone ready?” Max asked. The 30 or so Brass Squad members answered in unison a resounding yes. 

“Alright good, there are secret stairs on the-” but he was cut off by a metal ball crashing upwards through the floor. It tore through a couple squad members with ease. 

The warm blood from their now open guts splattered onto Max’s face. His eyes widened as panic ensued. 

Suddenly, the floor began to collapse in on itself. They were played like fools. 

Max, in an act of desperation dove for Persephone and grabbed onto them tight. He could hear screams as the floor crumbled away. Max, along with everyone else, fell down. 

It all crumbled away to black. 

~~~

“Sweet Arceus, what happened to him?!” Clara yelled. 

“ **Not to worry, Clara. He has only been immobilized. I did not harm him lethally.** ” Tyran told her, throwing him on the operating table. 

“It matters not if he’s fully alive or half dead. As long as he didn't die, that is what matters.” Clockwork’s cryptic voice spoke. 

“Yeah, but it's a pain to have to fix him up.” Clara complained, sounding defeated. 

“Nonsense, Clara. He actually saved us the trouble of amputating his left arm. And he was gracious enough to hand him over.  _ Thank you _ , Tyran.” Clockwork said. 

“ **But of course, good doctor. I must take my leave now, Argus wants me on the front lines.** ” 

“Do bring me back some good samples, will you? I’m interested in some of the SDA’s detectives.” Clockwork asked. 

“ **Of course, Clockwork. Clara, I will see you later. Have a good day.** ” Tyran waved goodbye, before leaving the laboratory. 

“Cya, Tyran.” Clara said. 

Clockwork approached the unconscious and bleeding Jack. “Now…” Clockwork took out a knife. “Let’s get to amputating, shall we?”

“Yes sir!” Clara said. 


End file.
